


The Disconnect Between Life and Death

by HitokoSama



Series: Star-Crossed [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Drug Addiction, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Mystery, Oral Sex, Organized Crime, Prostitution, Romance, Sexual Torture, Triggers, revenge tragedy elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:12:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 76,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2467871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HitokoSama/pseuds/HitokoSama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's something more to life than what you see everyday. Entropy may be a lasting fact but there's such inherent beauty in the fading of time and the lines that blur what our perception allow...The disconnect between life and death is subtle and misunderstood. We all know its the reason we keep holding on."<br/>Sasuke stalks and hunts in the dead of night, feeding off the memories of his victims. In a particular set of memories, he sees a gorgeous blond man. Sasuke cannot resist this hunt either. But how could meeting with this man throw him into the darkness of the world he had been protect from for so long?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this isn't my usual genre, nor is it my usual writing style since it is in present tense...So please forgive any lapses in grammatical correctness. Present tense is hard to get used to from past tense ._.;  
> Please enjoy :D

The moment of death is described by memories flashing past your eyes and you reliving every moment of your life. All those feelings come and hit you only for a few seconds. And it the most beautiful thing someone can experience. It is the moments before the hot whiteness takes you to heaven or the dark red burns you in Hell.  

My name is Uchiha Sasuke and I’m addicted the moment of death. I know what you’re thinking and no, I don’t see my own moment of death. I don’t lock myself in motels and choke myself until I pass out and the life flashes. No, death doesn’t work like that. My addiction entails me doing things I would have never believed myself capable. Like for instance, with the person I’m tailing right now. She’s young, not my usual target. I tend to go after someone with a little more age to them. Age makes them sweet, the fine wine of people. But there are dead giveaways about her and her past, things I cannot ignore. She’s had a long, hard life; full of memories and feelings. That’s what I want. Those feelings, those memories. How can I tell these things? Her stance, for one, is defensive, her eyes piercing. They dart around her surroundings, even though we’re in a well-lit upstart neighborhood. She’s faced trauma. She doesn’t trust the people around her. Also, I know that she’s addicted to something herself, either heroin or meth. She’s jittery, arms littered with puncture wounds.   Also, I can tell by her manner of dress that she’s more than likely a prostitute. That’s why she’s here in this neighborhood.

She’s perfect for me. I love people like her. They have the strongest emotions, the best experiences. They know what pain feels like. I move slowly behind her, my body quiet as my feet fall upon pavement. The clacking of her heels will drown out everything. But her obvious paranoia will make me cautious. I need to get her alone, somewhere private. Out of this neighborhood. Besides, if anyone saw me sneaking around this time of night after some woman, it would bring up a lot of suspicion. I mean, I do live here. My house was the one right next to the one this girl exited.

I keep to backyards, hopping over fences and other small obstacles. I’m hoping she isn’t going to meet a dealer or her pimp, if she has one. I want her all alone, to myself. I can’t afford to slip up. She turns down the street, exiting the main gate that leads out the neighborhood. I wait a few moments before following her out, making sure she is out of earshot. I haven’t had a fix in a few days and my bones are aching from the sheer need burning through and blistering my blood. I wonder what her name is. What her life was like before this. I wonder if my life started differently would I have been so inclined to invite her in and give her a nice place to stay. Those are things I would never know until I got into her head and took her life for my own.  

I’ve been after her on foot for at least ten minutes by this point and she ducks under a swaying tree and across a set of train tracks. Yes, perfect. She’s going to the bad part of town. Where only the filth and impoverished lived; a place where a murder can take place in front of a police officer and they won’t even say anything.  It is so crooked it’s almost a circle. She seemed to relax as soon as she took a left into an abandoned alley. She must have drugs in her purse. I had a feeling for a while that one of my neighbors was selling narcotics out of their house. With her memories, I’ll finally know who.

She slides down onto the ground; legs sprawled out haphazardly as she digs through her purse. A spoon, a vile, a lighter, a cotton ball. She’s about to shoot up. This is my moment to strike. I move in through the shadows. She doesn’t notice me. She doesn’t feel me there, watching. I scale a fire escape, sitting directly above her. Her hand is shaking and I notice mine is too. She pours a little water into the spoon, drops in a small rock, and starts heating it. When it’s good and ready, she grabs a rig from her purse and pulls in every drop of the liquid.

My chance is nearing. As soon as she shoots up, she’ll be defenseless. Especially if she’s shooting up heroin. She’ll be nodding out in two seconds flat. Her breath comes out in ragged gasps as she hits a vein and finally empties the needle into her arm. Her eyes close and I leap down off the fire escape. Two seconds, I have the knife in my hand. Two seconds, her eyes are starting to open. Two seconds, ruby jewels are spilling down her neck in hot, fat drops. Her eyes are completely open now, mouth choking on gasps. Soon, soon will be my time.  I pull a needle from my pocket and then wait, propping her head up as I position the needle by her eye. There’s a certain tell that always comes with this kind of work. Her pupils are dilated but not fully enough, that’s when you know that they’re experiencing their moment. She’s close, her breathing almost over. Blood trickling much slower. I shove the needle into her eye. She makes no sound. I pull the plunger back, filling it with fluid. Relief is already swelling in my joints.

But I need to get out of here. There isn’t any rest for the wicked.

When I finally made it back to my house, I shut and lock the door, making sure I didn’t track in anything. Somehow, I always managed to be completely clean with all of my kills. I took the mask off my head and I threw it. Sometimes I forget that I even put it on, it’s like a second skin to me. I walk through the silent house, the clock ticking on the walls as I pass by it. Maybe I should get a pet.

I go up to my room and set the vile down on the bedside table. It’s time again to indulge myself in the ultimate sin. I lie down on my back and pick up the needle, hands shaking as I remove the cap. I place the needle in line with my pupil and shove it in. There’s no pain as I pump the liquid into my eye. This used to scare me when I was younger. I would have to be held down even though the cravings made me want every drop. I pull the needle out with a slight hiss and lie back, my heart thundering in my chest as I’m pulled into that girls mind.

Images flash before my eyes like I’m looking through an old scrapbook. I was right about her. Her life was hard. Father walked out. Alcoholic, abusive mother. Ran-away from home, got addicted to drugs. Started to sell her body to support her habit. But I saw that before all these memories. I’ve  become good at reading body language. A different image flashes and starts playing, like a small clip of a movie. This must have been something either very recent or something that has stuck with her for a very long time. I can see it all through her eyes; she’s approaching a shady apartment. The door itself looks like it’s been kicked off its hinges at least once.  She knocks sharply and the door swings open a few seconds later. A guy, probably around the same age as me answers, he’s blond, scars on his cheeks, thin as a willow. He’s resting his arms on the frame, rib bones rippling through his muscles. Shirtless, messy, but unbelievably beautiful. He pulls a cigarette away from his mouth and disgustedly blows the smoke in the girl’s face.

‘What do you want? I told you, I’m going straight.’ He voice was rough and he looked displeased when the words passed between his lips.

‘Bullshit. I’ve seen six guys leave this apartment since yesterday. If you’re not selling anymore then what’s with all the traffic?’

He put out his cigarette and smiled cheekily at the girl. He obviously had nothing but disdain for her. ‘Same shit you’re in, sweetheart.’

The girl started to laugh. ‘Stops selling drugs, starts selling your body? That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.’

‘Like I said, I’m trying to go straight.’

‘Nothing straight about you, Naruto. But we both know that shit by now.’ She was satisfied by the angry look on the blond’s face. ‘But if you do have any of your stash left, I’ll buy some heroin from you.’

He stalks back into his apartment and throws a bag at the girl, obviously displeased and wanting her to just leave. ‘There, you can go now. And don’t come back. I won’t have any more. I won’t get any more. Got it?’

She slips him some cash and kisses him on the cheek. My blood boils. ‘We’ll see how long that lasts babe.’

After that everything ends as the high of emotions slip through and out of my body. I’ve relived her last moments and they all came and went in less than a minute. Her life was shorter than I thought it would be. My mistake. Older junkies usually have longer lines of memory but hers were strong enough for me to get the rush I wanted.

But something is different in me now. That guy, I wanted him. I wanted to be near him, to know him. I've seen plenty of people in these feverish dream-like picture shows and I've never wanted to know one until now. I would find this Naruto character and I would get into his head.

My attention turns to a rustling downstairs and I look at the digital clock by my bed, frowning. Oh good, my nightly visitor is here. I make my way down stairs and he’s sitting in the kitchen, a bowl in his hands with a spoon digging in.

“Is that my oatmeal?” I ask. He casually looks up at me, with a smirk.

“Yes, but it’s the kind you never eat. Too sweet for you.” He says and with a quick sniff I can tell he’s telling the truth. He brushes midnight black hair behind his ear and points to the refrigerator. “I got you a present.”

I open it to find a vile of what I had gone searching for earlier. The memories taken from someone at that beautiful moment. Of course he would finally show up with it as soon as I had done the deed myself. “Already got some. Hunted for it myself. You would have been so proud.”

“You always make me proud, baby brother.”  Itachi looks up at me and beckons to me softly. I come quietly and he smiles. “Something’s different about you. Did you get a good rush?”

“Not particularly.” I say, sitting on a chair next to him. He gives me a sideways glance and nods.

“Then, what?”

“I saw someone that I want to meet.”

Itachi put his spoon down softly and turns to look me in the face. And here comes the lecture. “Sasuke, we both know that is something we cannot do. As much as we like seeing the faces and memories of others, we cannot be a part of their world. It’s very suspicious.”

“What if I could prove to you that I would be fine taking this venture?”

“And, pray tell, how could you do that?”

“He’s a prostitute. It wouldn’t be too difficult to meet him and there would be no suspicion that I saw him through someone else. I’d just be like everyone else who visits.”

Itachi remains silent for a moment before scoffing quietly to himself. “So, does that mean you’re a little on the lonely side? Looking for a bit of physical attention, huh baby bro?”

“Can’t get everything from you, can I?” I made the remark quickly and Itachi made an amused sound at the back of his throat.

“Suppose not.” He was laconic as ever. He pats my hair and brings my head closer to his. “Fine, go find him. But don’t do anything too stupid. I hate killing cops.” He gives me a small kiss on the forehead. I frown, touching the mark. “Come on, it’s late. Let’s go to bed.”

“The guest room is always an option for you.” He takes his bowl to the sink and turns on his heel, picking me up as though I was still a small child. His muscles not even tense as they take on my weight. He smiles at me.

“Nostalgia is hard to kill, Sasuke. I prefer sharing a bed with you, just like old times.” I roll my eyes and settle my head on his shoulder and wrap my legs around his waist. It is really just easier going along with Itachi and his crazy whims. He carries me upstairs, just like he used to when we were children. Like the day when this all started. I shiver in Itachi’s arms and he just runs his fingers through my hair. “You’re going to have nightmares tonight.” His breath is warm against my scalp. He nuzzles me so sweetly before setting me down in my bed, my needle still on the nightstand. I kick off my shoes as he throws a pair of more comfortable pants my way.

Itachi was always like this, especially when no one was around to see us together. He was always unbelievably kind. No one ever sees the man I see. With his hard exterior, it was difficult. But he was soft on the inside. However, I would have never thought, especially as a child, that this man would have been the person who murdered our parents. And in the same night, started my addiction.

He got in the bed next to me, pulling my smaller body into his. I feel his warmth immediately as he wraps his arms around my waist, making sure I was secure in his arms. “I promise I won’t be gone for as long next time.”

It was hard to concentrate on his words as I mentally relive the murders. His breath pounds against my neck as my mind lulls me into a startlingly clear state of awareness. I close my eyes. I still remember the smell, the sounds, the sights…  
\--

_I had just come home from cram school, it was late in the year so it was nearly pitch black outside. Probably around seven in the evening. I already knew my father was going to be furious so I took my time getting back to the house. I was already in trouble as it was, delaying the punishment was my current priority. But when all the lights were out and the cars still parked in the driveway, I panicked. It wasn’t right.  If everyone was home, why weren’t the lights on? Itachi was standing in the doorway, as if he was waiting for me. When I came up to him, his hands fell silently on my shoulders and he was looking at me dead in the eye. There was a certain shine there that filled my heart with such dread that I didn’t know how to react. I remained silent as he led me inside. I wondered the entire time how long Itachi had waited outside for me. He picked me up and held me close to his body after entering the doorway, not even allowing me to take my shoes off as he silently closed the door behind us. I could hear the hard whispers of my parents, probably deciding on a punishment for me when I got home, or at least that’s what I thought they were doing. Itachi clutched me closer, pressing my small body so close to his, I heard the frantic beating of his heart._

_I was only eight at the time. I didn’t know what was actually going on. Itachi, however, knew every secret in the family. And he made sure to keep me as safe as he possibly could. He moved up the stairs and that’s when I got confused, I remember thinking specifically that Mother and Father would want to know I was home. But when I opened my mouth to protest, Itachi shook his head._

_‘Sasuke, listen to me.’ His tone had such a desperate plead to it that my back shook with fear. ‘We need to be quiet. Mother and Father are very angry right now and if we make noise, they’ll know we’re here. They’re bad people, Sasuke. We need to leave tonight. Do you understand?’_

_At the time, to me at least, Itachi was perfect. He never lied to me. Never spoke an untrue word. So when he told me that, I kept my mouth shut and just laid my head down against his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and muttered something against my scalp. I was shaking in his arms._

_We made it to the top of the stairs before all Hell broke loose. Itachi was cursing under his breath as the top board screamed under his foot. He was holding me so close at this point I felt like I was suffocating. I heard the door to the kitchen open and Itachi was breathing into my hair, fingers digging into my flesh._

_‘Sasuke, I need you to go to your room. Close and lock the door, despite what you hear don’t open it for anyone but me.’_

_I didn’t understand why I had to do that until my mother was at the bottom of the stairs, a knife gleaming in her hand. She was smiling at me and I felt my blood freeze up in my veins. Itachi turned so that he was the only one facing her and when I heard her footfalls on the stairs, I was glad for that. I couldn’t look at her face._

_‘Itachi, give him to me. He needs to be punished for coming home late. He made your Father and I worry so much.’_

_‘No.’ His reply was soft and I was surprised I could hear it at all. My heart was thundering in my chest when he said that. This was the first time I’d ever seen Itachi stick up to my parents._

_‘ITACHI!’ Her scream echoed through my veins as I tensed in his arms. Itachi quickly set me down and shoved me out of the way. I was behind him, one hand pressing me into his back. I was trembling mindlessly as I clutched onto the long material of his shirt. I knew Mother had made it up the stairs by the time he had set me down, but I didn’t know why she wasn’t rounding a corner and stabbing me yet, until the hand holding me slackened and I was able to look up for the first time._

_The knife was buried into Itachi’s shoulder, and he was gripping her by the neck his free hand. Mother had a crazed look in her eye as she glanced down at me. ‘We can’t support our habit without sacrifice!’_

_I didn’t know what she was talking about and Itachi let me go completely to grab her both hands. ‘SASUKE, RUN!’ His voice was chilling. And I didn’t stop to think twice about it. I knew then I was in some sort of danger when my Father heavy footsteps burst harshly across the floor. I made it to my room, slamming the door and locking it within a single breath. Screams echoed through the halls, through the door, through my skulls. I felt sick. So ungodly sick. I fell to the floor, hands over my ears. I didn’t want to hear, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t understand. I didn’t want to._

_It felt like hours, even days before the noise stopped completely. It fell too silent. It was too much. I scurried to the window and contemplated jumping out of it. We didn’t have neighbors so I couldn’t run for help. We lived gated off from everyone else. No one would be able to help until I was cold and dead. I shook and looked out at the ground, at least a twenty or thirty foot fall. I might die if I jumped. But I would certainly die if I stayed in the house._

_There was a knocking at the door and I froze in place, tears I didn’t know I shed burning down my cheeks._

_‘Sasuke let me in.’ It was Itachi and relief flooded through my blood. But I was still stunned. ‘Please Sasuke, its okay. I’ll protect you.’_

_I moved without thinking, unlocking the door. Itachi slumped into the room and he buried his face into my hair, muttering soft, sweet things against my scalp. I had been so frightened. But I didn’t know it was because the thought of losing Itachi was too much to fathom. I cried into his chest and he picked me up, his arm splattering me with his blood. He took me out into the hall and I saw our parents, slain. My mother’s crumbled body laid at the bottom of the stairs, her neck crooked and bruised. My father lay at the top of the stairs, knife sticking out of his chest and preventing him from fully being pressed into the floor._

_Rage pooled in my stomach. Itachi killed our parents. I had been traumatized. I just wanted someone to blame. I thrashed in his arms, crying, striking him with my small fists. He was silent the entire time. Holding me tightly until we got to his room and he set me down on his bed. ‘How could you kill them? What did they do? I don’t understand!’_

_He hushed me and gently ran his blood stained hands through my hair. ‘They were going to kill you, Sasuke. I wouldn’t let them. So it became us against them. I had to do it, do you understand that?’_

_I shook my head as tears burst out of my eyes and a wail from my lips. ‘Itachi, I didn’t mean to me a bad boy.’_

_‘Oh baby, look at me.’ He grabbed my head and held it between his hands. ‘This isn’t your fault; this will never be your fault. It’s my fault. I should have never started. I should have got you out of here earlier.’_

_‘Why?’ It was the only intelligent thing I could muster up at the time and he showed me why. He pulled two needles from his pocket and held them up to my face._

_‘Do you trust me?’_

_‘I’m scared Itachi.’_

_‘I know, I know, but do you wanna know why Mother and Father went crazy?’_

_I nodded. And Itachi gripped my face, shifting a needle into his free hand. I was shaking. ‘Please Itachi, I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’_

_‘It won’t hurt baby, I promise.’_

_I closed my eyes and he wrenched his hand free of my face. He pried my eye open and the needle hit me so fast that I didn’t even have time to flinch. He was right though, I felt no pain when the needle slipped in. But when the world changed around me and I was thrown into my mother’s childhood and relived all of it, up until the point where they planned my murder, I understood everything. And I already craved a second taste._

_When I came to my right mind, Itachi was laying down next to me in the bed. He put the needles away and grabbed me, pulling me softly into his arms. ‘I’ll tell you more when you’re older.’_  
-

My eyes open when I feel a soft hand gently wiping away tears. “Don’t cry baby, I promised I’d always protect you, right?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remember.”

“It’s hard to forget. One day, your memories will be taken away; whether it is by someone looking for a fix or just by death. One day, you too will forget.”  
\----

Naruto was too easy to find. I had an address in less than a day. However, I had connections to high places. Itachi begrudgingly helped me track the blond down. And now I was here, standing in the doorway of his apartment. The same one that looks like it had been beat in and kicked down. I frown to myself. I hope I didn’t regret this. My finger lingers in my pocket, the capped needle burning to be used.

I knock on the door and after a few moments it opens, revealing the same blond from the memories. He’s shirtless, something I didn’t notice before stands out on his stomach, a spiral tattoo. His eyes are a shining bright blue and he’s grinning at me.

“You’re not a cop are you?”

I’m instantly taken aback by that blunt question and chuckle a little. I guess I do look a bit out of place, even though I’m dressed far more casually than I do normally. Jeans and a black tank top. Perhaps he thinks that I’m too physically pretty for this.

“No, I’m not. I promise.” His smile widens and he moves so that I can come in. “I’m Sasuke, by the way.”

“I hope you’re a man of your word, Sasuke, I take promises very seriously.” He turns to shut the door, coming up behind me. “I’m Naruto, but you probably already knew that, right?” His hands snake up my back and he wraps his arms around my neck. “So Sasuke,” the way he says my name sends nothing but shivers of arousal down my spine, “what do you need from me? Feeling lonely?”

His lips against my neck make me shiver and he chuckles against my skin, a smirk makes its way to my lips. He’s too easy. I like it. I turn in his arms; he’s a bit shorter than me. I stroke my hands down his sides and he moves in closer to me. His lips brush mine before he pulls away.

“You know how to make a man comfortable.” I mutter and Naruto laughs a breathy, heady, sexy laugh. His smile is infectious. I follow him as he guides me through his small apartment; my hands on his hips as I rub small circles in his back with my thumbs.  His breath is raged and he pauses for a moment, turning to grip me. Naruto’s lips are hot against mine and I can feel the arousal pumping in my veins. His hands weave through my hair, tangling them so we can be closer. His mouth gasps against mine as I rub his supple ass through his jeans. His body trembles against me and I lean down, sucking ever so softly at the pulse of his neck. He moans.

“God, I hope you’re not interested in just oral.” He palms me through my jeans and a wicked smirk comes onto my face. Naruto’s eyes are glassy and I grab his ass, squeezing and massaging it.

“I’m interesting in the full package.” I mutter it against his neck and he shivers, back arching. He licks his lips and grabs me, pulling me into his bedroom. He pushes me onto the bed and starts unbuttoning my jeans. His mouth is so harshly pressed into mine that I can feel my lip splitting. He seems to forget his task and sinks down on top of me, rubbing his body and arching into me. I can feel our arousals brush and I grunt as he whines, hands on my shoulders, nails in my exposed skin.

I start biting at his neck, down his collarbone, until my lips and teeth brush his exposed nipples. His back arches, again and again, as I tease him, teeth and tongue. Naruto’s a whimpering mess by now. I pull back from him, giving him enough room to tug and pull at the buttons of my jeans.

I didn’t know how much I actually wanted this.

“Sasuke…” The way his voice caresses my name, it makes me crazy. I’ve never had such strong lust hit me before. There was something different about Naruto. I didn’t know what though. I just feel the attraction, the warmth. I didn’t know. I go back to his chest, continuing to blister kisses and nips across his skin. Usually I only feel this comfortable being so close to Itachi. “Fuck,” I love how gruff and lusty Naruto’s voice sounds. “Fuck, baby, no more teasing there.”

I smirk into his chest as my hands softly trace down his body, making him shiver and wiggle against me. He said no more teasing there, but he didn’t say I couldn’t tease somewhere else…I remove his jeans. He’s not wearing underwear. I look up at him and smirk. He smirks back. I move him in my lap and flip us so I’m on top.

“Mmm, the dominant type. I like it.” His mouth is full of dirty words. I want to fill it with more than a few things. Naruto is smirking at me. He knows what I want almost more than I do. But he’s used to this. He is a prostitute after all. “You’re pretty when you’re like that.” Naruto’s hands are softly flowing through my hair. I scoff at his comment, kissing down his stomach to stop his words from distracting me further. When I get to the sensitive skin right above his cock, he whines ever so softly. “The sweet type, huh?

“I’m not like other men.”

“I can tell, baby, I can tell. As soon as you swaggered into the house, I knew you were different.”

I kiss his thighs and he sighs with contentment. I wonder if he actually knows how different I am or if he’s just keeping up the banter because he’s a prostitute and knows how to satisfy a customer. I tease him softly by rubbing my lips against his rock hard cock and his back arches. Naruto lets a books worth of moans and beautiful words slip through those soft lips. I’m learning a lot about him from this. He’s a vocal, chatty person. And he appreciates the small things. He’s a prostitute; I don’t doubt that a lot of what he does doesn’t include gaining a large amount of personal pleasure from it.  

“Don’t you want to know how I knew you were different?” I pause at that offhanded question. My mouth sinks over him and his leg jerks. I can tell just by the tone of his voice that he’s smiling. “The silent, strong type too, huh? I can dig it.” He moans again as I continue to suck, teasing him by sinking my lips down and barely applying suction. My tongue is fondling the vein on the underside, his voice is breathy. “You never asked about how much it cost.”

I pulled my mouth away then which pulled a beautiful whine from his lips. “What?”

“I’m a prostitute, honey; most of the men I deal with wanna get down the numbers before slipping into the bedroom with me. You never mentioned anything about money, which either means you’re rich and don’t care, or you were too taken by me to mention it. That’s never happened to me before. I knew you were something else then.”

“Hn. You’re pretty astute.”

“When you’re in my line of work Sasuke, you gotta know how to read people.” He moves to lean on his arms, staring down at me.

“I know.”

He smirks at me. “Oh, do you? Were you a prostitute too, Sasuke?” He’s trying to tease me.

I nod my head. At one point, yes, I was. “But that’s a story for a different time.”

“Implications, implications…” Naruto seems pleased with me and I really didn’t understand why. But, in a moment where my cock was aching and twitching so painfully, I chose it to be a subject for later. He leans up and grabs something from his side table, handing it to me. Lubrication and a condom. He seems to know my body already. I didn’t know why that made me smile. “Fuck me like you mean it, Sasuke. I want to see what else I can learn from you.”

I pull myself farther up on the bed, resting my body against him. He pulls at my jeans which I forgot I was still wearing. He unbuttons them and frees me from the oppressive material on my skin. The air on my cock makes it twitch. Naruto watches it bounce and seems to appreciate the way it curves upwards, pressing gently into my stomach from arousal.

“Big boy…” Naruto is chewing his bottom lip, eyes still hazy and beautiful. “Hurry up slowpoke, I wanna feel it.” I lubricate my fingers, breath coming out in shallow pants and Naruto reaches out to stroke me with his free hands.  He’s good, fingers seemingly like liquid as they caress all of me. I grunt and rub a finger against his hole. He’s already moaning just from the wet friction. When I dip the finger inside, he’s gone. His voice has finally stilted in his throat as his back lifts from the sheets. But the noise returns as I render him a babbling mess of nerves. More and more, I sink in two more fingers at once and he seems to eat it up. He likes it when there’s a little less control, when emotions and feelings fly around and manifest themselves in desire and passion. He’s a strange one. There’s a good amount I want to know about him.

I know he’s ready when I pull my fingers out and his breath starts to steady itself. He’s wanted this since I stepped through the door. I try to slip the condom on myself but Naruto, cheeks flushed with arousal, grabs it from me, popping it into his mouth. He takes me into his mouth, sliding it on. He also doesn’t pause to give my balls a soft kiss either.

 I smirk down at him before I position my cock against his wet hole. The arousal hasn’t left me. If anything, even with his talking, I’ve only got more and more horny. His body is beautiful. His voice is intoxicating. His observations arouse me. He knows how to think and what to say. He’s very clever. And he’s already gotten me to admit more than I have to anyone else besides Itachi. He’s good.

When I enter him, it feels right. Just right. His body is relaxed but his walls are tight and slick. His back is arched and he moans. I groan at the feeling, trying my best to move slowly. It’s more difficult than I remember. Naruto leans up, wrapping his arms around my neck. I pull him close, embracing the warmth of his physical contact. My hand rests on his hip as I rock our bodies together. I cannot even begin to emphasis how much his ragged, heavy breathing affects me. His moans play out like a sinful melody as he jerks and squirms in my grasp.

“Sasu-ke! Mm…” The way his nails dig into my back makes me groan against his neck. He pushes at my chest and makes a motion for me to lessen my grip. As soon as I do, he flips us over. He’s on top of me, smirking like crazy. His hands are against my chest as he presses down on my cock, filling my stomach with conflicting emotions. The arousal burning in my veins loves this, but my controlling side wants to slam his face into the mattress and fuck him until he can’t move. My fingers bury into the flesh of his hips as he bounces up and down on my cock. I meet his thrusts each time, making him whine until my thrusts completely overwhelm him. His eyes roll back into his head and his mouth gargles gibberish. That’s what I like. That’s what I want. He’s weak to this, he wants my control. He’s testing me. I like it. I think I really like Naruto too. “Sasuke!”

I pull out and notice instantly that his body is starting to become tight with impending climax. It hasn’t been very long, or it could have been forever, but either way I’ve also become enwrapped in whatever strange chemistry is going on between us. I flip us over into a more domineering and comfortable position. He’s on his knees, face slumped against the bed. He’s not even bothering to try and support his upper body. I’m fine with that. I grab his arms and pull them backwards as I force myself back inside of him, pinning him down under my weight.

“Oh, fuck!” His voice is strained with arousal. He obviously wasn’t expecting that. I use his arms as a guide to pull him so I can go deeper, causing him to whine and cry with pleasure. It was so unbelievably arousing to have him so weak underneath me. “S-Sas-uke! I’m c-close!”

“Cum. Cum for me.” He can’t hold it anymore. It was like he was waiting for my command. He releases and his entire body shudders. His legs and back a cluster of beautifully straining muscles. His walls tighten against me and my body shivers behind him. I’m close too. It’s been awhile since I’ve had so much physical sensation. It’s probably been at least two years since I’ve had sex. And it isn’t exactly an easy task to master when you don’t know when your brother is going to show up in your home and take over your bed.

I climax, releasing Naruto’s arms as I do so. My body twitches as the muscles tighten and release themselves. It was so relieving. He moans softly as I ride out my orgasm inside him. His breathing is still rushed and harsh. I pull out slowly and he uses his now free arms to push himself up off the bed. “I should have let you go bareback.” It was like he was talking to himself, making what he thinks to be silent observations.

“Hn.” I pull off the condom and Naruto turns to me, smirking again. He cleans the cum off my cock and can’t help but shudder. After such a hard climax, my cock is incredibly sensitive. I moan despite myself.

“I must thank you for that. I’ve had a lot of sex in my life, and I mean a lot, but I’ve never had an orgasm that intense before.”

“That probably just means you’re more attracted me than you have been to anyone else.” I mutter, lying down. Naruto lights up a cigarette and offers me one. I haven’t smoked since I was eighteen, but I take it anyway. He hands me the lighter.

“Touché, it is true. You’re the most attractive man I’ve ever seen.” I let the smoke crawl out of my lips and he smiles at me. “And no, I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass. I don’t see your type at all in this business. But, you would know that too, right?”

“I was a private prostitute.” I say suddenly. “I had one customer and I only slept with him for drugs and a place to live.”

Naruto didn’t seem to notice that I had just revealed a very private part of my life to him. In fact, he almost seemed pleased by it. “What were you hooked on? You don’t seem like the average junkie. Cocaine doesn’t seem your style. Neither does heroin or meth.” Before I could even contemplate my answer, Naruto opens his mouth again. “And you’re not a nympho, like me. From the amount you came, you haven’t had sex for a while.”

“You’re a nympho and a prostitute? I’m pretty sure when people say to work the job you love; this isn’t what they had in mind.”  Naruto laughs hard at that, so hard he coughs out smoke.

“Fuck and you’re funny too? I think I’m developing a crush on you.” He puts out his cigarette and smiles at me. “So mister mysterious Sasuke, which is your real name.” I raise an eyebrow. “You didn’t hesitate to give it to me. Which means you didn’t contemplate a fake name when you gave it to me. You wanted me to trust you from the get go. That’s also how I knew you weren’t lying about being a cop.”

“Perceptive. If I hadn’t known you were a prostitute, I would have thought you were some kind of government profiler.”  

“So what were you hooked on? Indulge me, I’m curious.”

“Memories.” I reply and he gives me a strange look.

“Never heard of a drug called that. Is that like some kind of mix?”

“It’s very rare. Almost no street dealers have it even though it’s highly abundant.”

He thinks for a moment and I can’t help but think he looks silly when he’s thinking hard. “What, is it like high death rate or something?”

I smirk a little. I guess it does have a high death rate for anyone but the user. “You could say that.”

Naruto is smiling again. “Also likes to live life dangerously. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were a secret agent.” I can’t help but crack a smile when I hear that. Naruto is strange. But I think I too am getting a hint of the crush he was talking about. I think I was getting a crush on him too. This was so high school it hurt me.

“How much do I owe you?” I say, breaking the weirdly pleasant silence between us. He grasps the cigarette from my hand. I hadn’t even noticed I smoked it to the filter. He places it in an ashtray and gives me a soft kiss when he turns back to my direction.

“Nothing. Call that one on the house, because believe me when I say, it was the house’s pleasure.” I smirk at him. “When can I see you again? I wouldn’t mind become a certain someone’s private prostitute…”

“Oh?” Why am I smirking so much? I probably look more like a super villain in the secret agent movies than the secret agent themselves. “Perhaps tomorrow I can treat you to a little dinner and sex?”

“A gentleman.” Naruto sighs and places a hand on his chest. “Who knew?” His smiles light up his face. I place my hand by his neck, stroking it gently. It would be easy. It would be so easy to snap his neck and reach down in my pocket and grab my needle to get his memories. That was why I came here, right? To kill him and steal those memories his beautiful eyes hide? Then what was stopping me? What was this seemingly gripping infatuation that left me at a loss? I’ve killed people I’ve slept with before, so what was stopping me now? I was already betraying my addiction and something about that unsettled me. I’ve never wanted anyone more than I wanted their memories.

I stood up and start dressing. Naruto’s eyes are upon me, watching, studying. I like it. I like it so much. How could anyone be so perfectly designed like him? I turn, kissing him possessively on the lips. He’ll slip up. That’s when I’ll take them. My addiction will win out over him. It will. It always has and it always will. The only reason I hadn’t killed Itachi yet was because if I tried, he would flip the script and kill me.

“I’ll be back tomorrow at around six. Cancel all your appointments Naruto.” He smirks at me.

“Consider it a date, Sasuke.”  



	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Sasuke and Naruto's initial interaction, things in both of their lives start to heat up as a unknown connection pushes to the surface, locking their fates together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a bit of POV switching between Sasuke and Naruto since this story is centric on the two of them and their reactions. So uh, be prepared I guess? LOL

There’s something inherently desperate about telling someone you sell your body for a living. It always brings about the questions everyone seems to always have handy: Do I have no self-respect? No, I actually have quite a lot, I’m just too much of a fucking realist to even have enough hope that I could pay for my life without prostitution, and why not indulge my inner addict while getting paid? A little petty, I admit, but oh well. Do I have no sense of shame? Oh, no, not really, I gave up all sense of the word shame when I decided to be loyal to the foil and would literally do anything for my next high. A little pathetic, I admit, but what could I do? And then there’s my favorite question: Did Daddy not love me enough? Quite the contrary, Daddy loved me too much…Well adopted Daddy did. My parents died when I was six, so I can’t even give people a straight answer to that question. A little pessimistic, I admit, but that’s the struggle of the intellectual.

My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I’m a nymphomaniac. A lot of my former friends criticized my lifestyle when I was growing up because they never quite understood what it really meant to be fucked from birth. Their parents handed them everything, not even my nice adopted parents could do that, as much as they tried. And though I shouldn’t particularly brood on the past, I always seem to find myself wandering down that path in my mind…The very same path that makes me relive all of my mistakes.

Though, this particular visit down memory lane took an abrupt pit stop to this afternoon, a very nice afternoon that reminded me why I had an addiction to sex in the first place. It’s not really rare that I meet a John who catches my interest. In fact I’ve met plenty of pretty men, with nice smiles, huge dicks, and normal lives. But there was something particularly tragic following around my Adonis, the China Doll. Did my heart love until now? Because I’d never seen beauty till this night…

Sasuke was Adonis’ human name, and there were sparks in the air when I saw him. Like I said, I’ve been with plenty of beautiful men before, but Sasuke was a little something special. Something beautiful…Yet…

Call it all my years of paranoia, but there’s something very wolf in sheepish clothes about him. But our connection…I don’t know. It was electric. I felt it as soon as he put a hand on me, kissed me with sculpted lips, fucked me with that marble body.  But I cannot read too far into Sasuke, he’s well-guarded, I can feel it. He may have let a few things slide through the cracks in his armor, but inside of him beats the heart of darkness. And if I get too close, I’ll get sucked up by it.

But there was another thing, something I can’t quite put my finger on. He was so familiar, yet I can’t place him. I’ve never met him before, I know that much. I wouldn’t forget that face. But there was something else about him that was so…Familiar.

I roll to my side when I see the screen of my phone lighting up. Only my regular Johns have my number, and as much as I want to ignore the call and keep myself loyal to new prospects…A girl’s got to eat.

I answer and the call is relatively normal. As much as I really hate this fat fucker, he pays well, upfront, all in cash. Real nice guy really, he just sweats a lot and most of it ends up on me and it’s just pretty disgusting.

Oh well, maybe if this Sasuke prospect actually works out, I won’t have to get sweat on by fat guys any more. Or, maybe…

But the or maybes usually never happen anyway so I just better hope Sasuke turns out to be the real deal. A glimpse of hope in the dying ship of the world…

Fatty John comes over a little before the sun dies behind the horizon and his eyes swell with hunger and I don’t think it’s just the sexual type either. I smile despite my growing nausea, another night of this and I might need to sleep in a rain coat.

I softly grab the cash from his hand, try to make it seem like it’s not important and put it somewhere safe before taking him cautiously in my bedroom. As much as he’s done this before, you can tell that there’s fear there, in his eye. After all this time he’s still very afraid of what we’re about to do, even though, just from his body language, I know his flesh craves other flesh.

“Don’t be nervous, baby. It’s just you and me and the stars...” He always smiles when I say shit like that. At heart he obviously wants that fickle romance you read about in books where a man saves a whore from their life as said whore and they fall in love, but I’m not so cliché. Nor am I looking to be the lover of someone whose name I never seem to remember…

I strip myself of clothing and start to do the same for him, all smiles and beauty. Gentle, almost motherly. He wants someone soft and kind; he’s not your average John who just needs a cute little hole to shove their dick in. Though, I’m not saying all Johns are the same, but all of the regulars seem to have the same need as him. A real sex toy that talks and walks and says whatever you want and makes you feel good. Not that I mind being the hole, but it’s sometimes nice to pretend that I’m someone I’m not. That Uzumaki Naruto doesn’t exist anymore…

I hear something at my front door and pause for a moment. He’s already touching me and running his hands down my body, hunger always seeming to outweigh the need to be ready for anything. I can hear my door opening and before I know it, I’m dragged unceremoniously from my John’s lap and onto the floor, a gun in my face.

Goddammit. A fucking raid? Sai fucking promised me…Oh.

Of course my John is freaked out. This is a real police officer, a real gun in my face; he however, does not know that this little fucker is doing this all for show and the gun in my face is has the safety on.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE YOU PERVERTED FUCK! DON’T LET ME CATCH YOU DICK DEEP IN ANYTHING AGAIN.” Sai, as classy as he is tactful. My John is dressed and out of my apartment before I can even get up from the floor. I turn towards Sai, my face betraying my mood. I’m smiling but he knows I’m not happy. In fact, I’m not particularly mad either. I’m in a state of blissful triviality.

I sit down on my bed and light a cigarette. “Well, well, what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Hello to you too, beautiful.” Sai says as he takes a loose cigarette from my pack. I hand him my lighter and he smiles down at me. He always smiles, no matter how he feels. He was very difficult for me to read at first, but now, he’s a book. “I thought you went straight, babe.”

“No, honey, ain’t nothing straight about me.”

“Well good that I checked on you then, especially if you’re going to continue to play this game.” Sai rubs at his eye and I take a soft drag. To him, I’m always playing games but I do things for a reason. He just believes there’s no real reason for this. I don’t see the world as my pretty little oyster. He, though, sees everything as an opportunity to either mess with someone, or fit things to his benefit.

“And what game is that, Sai?”

“Russian roulette.” Sai sits down next to me on the bed and puts his cigarette out in the ashtray. It was only half smoked and that bothers me…I try to never leave things unfinished. But some things cannot be finished. I look at him and there’s a genuine look of concern in his eyes. He’s barely anything but sarcastic with me so this is a rarity and a delight. “He’s back.”

My back tenses and I take a hard drag, almost coughing from how uneasy my breathing becomes. Rarity, yes, but never mind about being a delight.  It was really only a matter of time and I knew it. I knew he’d come back so why am I so surprised? Some things cannot be finished. I put my cigarette out and looked over at Sai.

“Naruto, I know you don’t want to help us anymore but Danzo asked for you specifically.”

“Sai, I’m not Kurama anymore. I’m not a part of the Jinchuuriki; I gave all that up when I got clean. You and your fucking boss know that. And besides, the last time I tangled with Uchiha Itachi, I got my stomach sliced open.” It may be tattooed now but I know that scar still hides behind the black ink. It was a reminder from the Uchiha not to get too close to the sun; that my wax wings wouldn’t hold me forever.

“Danzo says he’ll set you free.”

I scoff at that, laughing softly in the back of my throat. I can’t help but smile. “Only death will set me free, dude. Tell Danzo that I won’t help him, not anymore.”

Sai’s drops his smile and grabs onto my hand. “You don’t have to deal with this anymore. We can have something together. If you just work the case a little, we can both leave this hellhole, just you and me.”

I pull from Sai’s grasp and get up from my bed, grabbing a pair of sweat pants. I act like nothing in what he says bothers me as I shimmy the cloth up my legs. They’re loose around my hips but I don’t like to stay naked too long around men who have unrequited feelings. They literally feed my addiction to the point where it’s not funny to prey on them anymore.

“He’ll drop everything he has against me?” Sai perks up and turns his head towards me. Hope is what I see in those eyes; those porcelain, painted eyes…

“Yes, he says he’ll get rid of everything. The murder charges, the drug possession, the prostitution…Everything. He says if you can hand him Itachi, he’ll give you a new life. We all know Itachi was way more dangerous than you ever would be, even if you weren’t clean.”

“Shooting goofballs into your femoral ain’t exactly kosher either, honey. I guess I should thank you for all the years of your shirking your civic duties to watch and make sure I was alive…”

“We grew up in that orphanage together…I wasn’t going to let you die.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should have.” I mutter under my breath.

Sai is silent for a moment as I light another cigarette; the stress making me feel like I’m drowning. “You know, Iruka still talks about you. He misses you.”

“Don’t butter me up with that shit, Sai.” I say as I prop myself up at my window sill, taking drags of my cigarette, flicking ash out the crack in the glass. “How does Danzo know Itachi’s back? I thought Itachi never struck the same area twice.”

“Well, he’s making an exception. We think there’s either someone or something that he wants here. Or there’s a very exact copy-cat who knows exactly how Itachi operates, to a T, Naruto. It was a classic Itachi killing.”

“No one is perfect like him. If he hadn’t have been so sloppy with his parents, I doubt we would even know he was a killer. I mean, that’s how we got his M.O.” I snip at Sai, staring out into the buzz of the freshly darkened sky. I followed Itachi for two years. I learned everything I could about him because I believed I could catch him for the cops and by doing that, assuring myself a life after the drugs. I had been wrong. “That being said, he learned through experience how to be the perfect killer and still hid in the shadows, quite well I might add. We could have easily missed someone hanging onto his coattails.”

“A protégé?”

“Didn’t Itachi have like, a kid sister or something?”

Sai pauses as he thinks for a moment. There’s a reason why the police coming crawling to me for things like this. I pick up the shatter parts of a picture and start sliding them all back together again. But this picture obviously is incredibly unfinished and I don’t even know if I can make a stick-figure out of the parts we do have. “I believe he had a kid brother, but I know absolutely nothing about him. I don’t even know his name. That’s how unimportant he’s been. We, however, don’t even know if he’s dead…He’s technically been missing since the murder of his parents. But that was fifteen years ago…”

“That protégé could be missing little bro…”

“Itachi killed his parents but decided to spare his little brother? Mercy killing doesn’t fit him but leaving the kid alive sounds a little farfetched to me… But then again you’re only the really one whose ever spoke to our lovely killer.”

“He’s cold, he’s calculated, and he will cut down anyone who gets in his way. But I don’t know so much if Itachi is completely heartless. He didn’t attack me until I provoked him and even that took some doing… and even then he left me with a shallow enough wound that I survived… So maybe, underneath that icy exterior, beats the heart of a man.”

“I’ll dig around; see what I can find on the mystery brother. For all we know, that kid is still alive and he’s the one Itachi’s trying to get to.”

“Let’s hope not, we both know that if Itachi’s found him, we’re not going to be able to save him.”   
\---  
 _Sasuke’s PV_

“Itachi, if you don’t stop eating my oatmeal, I will fucking stab you.” I stand behind my brother, softly stomping my foot and he glances at me from over his shoulder, waving his spoon in my direction. I’m holding a kitchen knife in my hand but we both know he’d snatch it from before I could even make two steps towards him.

“Hn, and then you wonder why you don’t have friends. You’re stingy with your oatmeal and you threaten to stab people.” Itachi shakes his head but his humors are high. I put my hands on my hips, blade pointed outward. “Also, Sasuke, love, when you say things like that to me it makes me want to literally hog tie you, sit on top of you, and eat all of your oatmeal and all of the oatmeal you will buy in the future.” I roll my eyes and sit down at the breakfast bar, next to Itachi, knife forgotten in the sink. He knows he’s won already.

“I bought you like six fucking boxes of the sugary cereal that you like.” He smiles softly into his bowl, and ruffles my hair. I try to frown but it doesn’t work and I end up smiling. I love my brother dearly, even when he eats all of my oatmeal.

“Actually, there were only three and I already ate all of them…” Itachi perks his head up as Kisame yawns, coming into the kitchen. “Coffee’s hot.” He comments as he turns his head back towards me. I probably don’t look very happy.

“Sometimes, I hate you.” I get up from my spot and open the cabinet above the stove labeled ‘Itachi’s stuff’. Three untouched boxes of cereal sit up there. Itachi takes another spoonful of oatmeal and shrugs.

“Whoops.” Itachi says, no hint of remorse in his voice. I sit back down, shaking my head.

Itachi is chuckling softly in his throat and I punch him in the arm, which makes him laugh a little harder. Kisame sit across from Itachi and shakes his head, sipping his coffee. “These sappy family moments make me sick. You two are ridiculous.”

“And a good morning to you too, Kisame.” I mutter shaking my head.

“Did you make this coffee?” Kisame eyes me and I nod. “Fuck, little Uchiha makes a good cup of coffee. We should have the Akatsuki hire him to make us fucking coffee, Konan can’t make coffee for shit.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that, she’ll fold you to death.” Itachi says as he takes another bite of oatmeal. “Origami and sushi are some of her favorite things.”

“Yeah, yeah. When do we have to go back, anyway? I kinda like loitering around your brother’s house. Family moments aside.”

“About three days, so we have some time to relax before our next assignment comes rolling in. Plus, those three days will give me enough time to eat all of Sasuke’s oatmeal and make him really mad before we leave.” Kisame chuckles into his coffee as I turn my head towards my brother, about to say my last goodbyes before pulling off the most childish act possible. Pull on Itachi’s ponytail and whip him in the face with it. He hated when I did that as a kid, he most certainly hates it now.

As my hand slowly goes for the waterfall of black, he turns his head towards me, throwing the glossy black hair over his shoulder. He smirks, all knowing. “Now, beautiful baby brother, you weren’t thinking of pulling my hair, were you?”

I smile resting my head on my hand as Itachi reaches out, cupping my face with his fingers. He digs them in softly and I can peek at the ring on his finger as he does so. He doesn’t look too angry with me, more mischievous.

“Why would he do that, Itachi? We all know if he did that, he would have had to buy you a drink first.” Itachi’s face seems to freeze as Kisame carelessly lets me off the hook. His fingers leave my face and I turn towards Kisame who does not seem threatened by my brother at all. Itachi just stares him down for a moment, a scrunched look on his face. I’d almost say it was embarrassment, but Itachi doesn’t get embarrassed. He has no shame left. Itachi starts to laugh and so does Kisame and I can’t help but join in. I’ll take any piece of normality that I can get.

“You’re such a fucker Kisame, and you say that shit after Sasuke makes you such good coffee.”

“I said it because he made me such good coffee. He’s a dear and I love him to death. I can’t have you cutting off his arm or something.”

“It wouldn’t have been his arm, maybe just a pinky.” Itachi holds up his hand and wiggles his pinky in Kisame’s face.

“Hn. We all know it would have been a fingernail and Itachi would have said something along the lines of, ‘I think you’ve learned your lesson Sasuke, don’t disappoint me again. You lack, proper hygiene.’” I did that in my best Itachi impression voice and Kisame couldn’t keep his coffee in his mouth. He covers his mouth as he rushes to the sink, laughing the mess down the drain.

“Well since you’ve officially been with a prostitute now, you aren’t the cleanest anymore.”

“Oh honey, you can do better, you’re beautiful.” Kisame says as he slaps a hand on my shoulder. I shake my head and look over at Itachi, who seems very satisfied now that all the attention is on me now. He loves to do that, air out all my dirty laundry in front of company. Vicious brat, that older brother of mine. He makes a clawing motion like a cat and I just shake my head, so I wasn’t completely off the hook about the hair thing.

“He was beautiful too, Kisame, so don’t be too worried about me. In fact, I’m seeing him again today.”

“I hate you when you openly defy me.” Itachi mutters into his oatmeal bowl. “I told you not to get too close.”

“I’m waiting for the perfect moment. I don’t know why or how, but he understood me within minutes of meeting me. It was weird, there was an instant connection, and so I’m waiting it out, taking my time with this one.”

“You’re waiting for him to slip up so you don’t feel guilty about killing him? You’ve changed darling, you’ve changed.” Itachi seems amused yet not too happy by the prospect of me changing, but all it does it make me feel grumpy. I don’t like not knowing myself. But I know, soon enough, Naruto will slip up and I will have what I need, a small reminder of who I really am. “You feeling okay, baby?”

“I guess I’m just fiend-ing, a little bit.”

“You already take what I got you the other day?”

“Yesterday morning I did.”

“Kisame, grab your coat we’re going on a man-hunt.”

“I’ll do it because the kid makes a good cup of Joe, but that’s it. I don’t approve of your choices.” Kisame points at both Itachi and myself before he finishes his cup and turns from the breakfast bar, leaving Itachi and I in silence as we shake our heads in unison.

“Kisame is really obsessed with this coffee thing.”

“He really like coffee and it is true, Konan makes piss poor coffee. It’s watery thin but at the same time it’s so strong, no matter how much sugar or cream you put in it, it never tastes quite right. I think she’s secretly trying to kill everyone with it.” Itachi says as he put his spoon down, he turns too, but he heads towards the sink, bowl in hand.

“Itachi, how come you never hunt for yourself anymore?” He pauses at the sink and starts rinsing out his bowl. I know these are the things he doesn’t want to talk about with me because they relate back to our past. Somewhere Itachi does not like to go.

“Probably because, unlike you, I have an unlimited supply ready if I can’t catch anything extra when I hunt for you…”

“So, how is he?” Itachi puts the bowl in the drying rack and spins on his heel, crossing his arms over his chest. I’m already looking at him and he rubs his bottom lip against his teeth. The only nervous tick Itachi has left in the tomb of flesh he calls a body. At least, the only one I’ve ever seen.

“Uncle is good. He wants to see you and provide even more for you than he does now, just like he does for me, but we both know he can’t...”

“Yeah, I know.” 

Uncle Madara was estranged from everyone else in the family, including our parents. I had probably only met him once and I didn’t even really remember it…So when Itachi killed our parents, he was the perfect choice to shelter us. And he did, no questions asked, because I could tell, Madara already knew what Itachi had done. And Madara did not care. But Itachi did. For the first few months, Itachi always wore that guilt on his face. Then for the next few years, he only wore it in his eyes.

For a while, living with uncle Madara was great. Everything was provided for us and he seemed to adore us unconditionally, especially me, which Itachi hated. Not because he was jealous and wanted uncle Madara’s affection, but because Itachi didn’t like me sharing my affection with anyone else but him. Itachi was a very strange kid…Well he’s still is very strange… He’s addicted to sugar like a fourteen year old boy…And that is so weird…

But those reasons aside, Itachi doesn’t want me to see Uncle Madara for a different reason. When Itachi was fifteen, he joined Madara’s mercenary organization, because, well, he could. Itachi was already killing people regularly for our fix so it wasn’t a big deal. The problem became that Madara started training me to follow in Itachi’s footsteps. Something Itachi did not want. Sure, Itachi had taught me the art of stalking and killing prey silently and efficiently, just in case he could not provide for me, but he did not want such a despicable life for me. Itachi said to me once that the blood on a man’s hands cannot be washed off and eventually cakes and dries and hardens until hands become so twisted that they are no longer the hands of a man, they become the hands of a monster. He said it was fine if there was drips and stain on my hands, but not like him. He wouldn’t let me become him…

Uncle Madara tried to buy me onto his side, but he couldn’t persuade me, so far anyway. Even when he bought my house for me, even when he gives me all the money I spend on a daily basis. I still will not come to him…I think that makes him mad, but I’m not sure. He seems to enjoy the chase because the money still keeps coming.

“I hate when you think about him.” Itachi mutters as he puts a glass to his lips. He must have grabbed it when I was walking down memory lane. He finishes it in a few gulps and sets the empty glass down. “He may be our loving, kind benefactor, but it still doesn’t change things Sasuke. The more you feel like you owe him, the more likely you’ll go running to pay him back.”

“So you’re saying you’re trapped by guilt, Itachi? How unlike you, you always have a plan.” Itachi doesn’t like when I mock him, but it’s very rare I have open opportunities like this.

He smirks at me and claps a little. “Clever, clever. Now go put on a shirt, I can see your nipples.”

“Itachi, you’re not wearing a shirt either. I can see your nipples, why don’t you put on a shirt?”

“Hn, my nipples are older, they are less obscene.”

“Did you just pull the older brother excuse…with your nipples?”

Itachi just looks at me, eyebrow raised, smirking. Leave it to Itachi to make not wearing a shirt an all-out battle of wits.

“Are you ready to go yet Itachi?” Kisame wanders back into the kitchen as I leap to my feet from the breakfast bar, a little more puffed up and grumpy than when he left. He looks at me and spins me towards him. “What’s wrong little Uchiha?”

“He called my nipples obscene.”

“Fuck your nipples Itachi, they’re obscene.”

“You’re only siding with Sasuke because he made good coffee.”

Kisame glances at Itachi for a brief second and then glances back at me, shaking his head, holding his hands up. “Do you two not find anything weird about what just happened?” Itachi and I exchange glances and shrug. “What the fuck is wrong with the two of you? Like really? I come in from getting a coat, and apparently you two had an entire conversation about each other’s nipples.”

“It was a pretty good talk.” Itachi quips and Kisame just throws his arms down in defeat. I laugh to myself as I head upstairs to cover my apparently obscene nipples.

“Uchihas are fucking weird.”

Though, I couldn’t help but agree with Kisame, I also couldn’t suppress my laugh of hysteria. Itachi and I had been crazy since our parents died, Itachi maybe a little longer, so stuff like that for us is normal. My life to me is completely normal. From the outside looking in, I see nothing wrong with my life.

I peer over at the clock on my nightstand and wonder how fast eight hours will tick by…Probably a little faster when I get my hit but I’m not sure. I go to my bathroom, starting the hot water for a quick shower, but in the meantime I stare at myself in the mirror. I know how people see me. And I know by a lot of standards that I’m quite good-looking. Itachi’s told me my entire life that I shouldn’t, however, get caught up in the opinions of others. They don’t matter. If I live for other people and what they think of me, I will become petty. But there’s something inherently sad about not caring about how people perceive me. And I do care a little, I mean; I don’t want people to think I’m the serial killer I actually am. It might be hard to get a date like that.

I smile softly to myself and catch the smile in the mirror and instantly frown. I think I’m starting to understand Itachi’s annoyance with me ‘changing’. I’ve known Naruto for less than a day and I’m smiling to myself about him, I’m not a love-sick thirteen year old. Though, I haven’t had a real relationship since…Well, ever. Usually I just had one-night stands. No strings attached, no exchange of numbers, never at my house. And this is obviously far out of my routine; Itachi probably never expected that I’d ever like someone enough to compromise my identity.

I suck in my bottom lip and strip, shaking my head as I enter the shower. I guess I never thought I would either.   
\---

**Naruto’s PV**

I’m surprised when nervousness chews at my gut like a ravenous dog. Sasuke really is the complete package and here I am, all in a tizzy about him when I really should be trying to focus on the case at hand. My freedom is all I’ve wanted since I was a child. But there was a high price to pay for it. It is true, Itachi spared me the first time, but he may not be so merciful the second. And I know he’ll remember me, no one ever forgets me. I make impressions on people that they talk about years later. Some people say that’s an admirable trait to have, but I find it nothing but a nuisance right now. If I could just be like a drop of ink in the ocean, a snowflake drifting into the artic…I would give everything.

But, I’m not so fortunate. As I’ve heard, Uzumakis always get the short end of the stick in a lot of situations.

I pace around my apartment, I’ve already smoked enough to kill a roach, and I can feel a slight dampness above my brow. I know I shouldn’t be this nervous about a date, but for some reason it fills my gut with such anxiety. I know I like Sasuke, but maybe I don’t know how much…

I jump at the knock on my door, my heart lumping up in my throat as I scurry to the knob. I peer through the peephole and nearly squeal with delight when I see China Doll peering back. God, he is so beautiful. I don’t want to prematurely call this love, but this might be the start of something wonderful. Though, all fangirling aside, I should probably open the door.

When I do, that smirk is already there. Full and beautiful, giving his face such a complete look. I can’t help but think there’s something so familiar about that smirk but I can’t tell why. Actually, there is just something so fucking familiar about him that I can’t put my finger on that it probably doesn’t even really exist. He leans in to kiss me and I’m already horny.

I’m a smooth talker and I bet a few good words could get Adonis out of the doorway and into the bedroom but I know I need to stay calm and keep it in my pants. I want to savor this burning passion. His eyes are dark with desire and I find myself already drowning in the depths of wanting…

Maybe one more kiss won’t hurt...

I touch his face; smooth, silky skin under my fingertips, it makes me shudder as lust pools in my gut, replacing the nervousness that was once there. I watch his face, the way his eyes reveal his hunger, his desire. He nudges my nose with his and I tilt my head, allowing him better access to my lips. I can taste the wanton sweetness of his longing on his lips. My head is swimming. His hands trail down my back, firmly grabbing a hold of my ass, squeezing and massaging it. There’s power in those hands, strength…It appeals to my more submissive side. I moan despite myself, already ready to strip down right here and let him take me on the floor.

Take it slow Naruto, Adonis is already yours tonight…

“I thought we were actually going to have a date before the sex.” Sasuke scoffs against my neck, the hot breath tickling the sensitive skin, making me shiver and wonder just when he slipped past my guard. “Not as gentlemanly as I thought…”

“Oh? And do you expect all men to be fairy-tale perfect?”

I take my own chance to smirk. “If all men were perfect, we wouldn’t be standing here, now would we?”

He’s still smirking and I’m still quite taken with him, he holds out his hand. “Shall we go then?”  
\---

_Sasuke’s PV_

We play games. All of us do, we’re all human and we all have little ticks and habits that drive us toward a bigger goal. So I know Naruto is playing with me right now and I like the game so far. The way he brushes against me, the way he leans in for soft kisses between words, the way he fumbles with my clothes, he’s playing with me. It’s the attraction game, and he’s not the only player right now.

He’s a sucker for being held. He wants security and he’s very wanton after a few well-placed kisses. We arrive at where I’ve made reservations and Naruto seems happily surprised that the only reason I made reservations is because the place fills up quickly, not because it’s somewhere extravagant.

We take our seats and Naruto starts with that heady, sexy laughter of his. “I would have never thought you’d take me to somewhere so normal.”

“What, one date and you’re already expecting me to be your personal sugar daddy? I need at least three dates before that.”

He smiles at me. “Oh three dates? Someone’s planning ahead. I plan to win you over in just one.” He leans back slightly in his chair, throwing his arm over the back. He’s beautiful. “I’d also like to take this time to warn you about me and food.”

“What, you’re not a grazer are you?”

“No, quite the opposite.” He takes a sip of his water and licks his lips, not in the sexy way I’ve seen before. “Let’s just say me eating is a lot like giving birth.” He takes another sip.

“You’re going to expel a living being from your body?” I probably should have waited until Naruto was done drinking before I let that one fly. Naruto starts to cough and laugh, his eyes are slightly red from choking.

“I was going to say disgusting yet oddly beautiful, but I think I like that better.”  Naruto’s face was cheeky. “Were you trying to kill me with that little joke?”

I chuckle softly. “Now why would I do that?” I place my hand against my chest, right above my heart, trying my best to look sincere and disheartened by his comment. Naruto claps.

“Very funny, yeah, star performance. I’d give you a standing ovation if we weren’t in public.” He winks at me and I scoff a little.

“Who says we have to be standing for your ovation?” Also, I’m very smooth. He can’t hide his smile and his laughter bubbles from those perfect bow-shaped lips.

“Well, innuendoes aside, I’d actually like to get to know you more.” Ah, and now comes the time where I have to see if the years and years of lying to Madara and Itachi pay off. Each question, I’ve learned through experience, is a loaded gun. And could have more than one bullet behind it. I knew as long as I stuck to a basic story and kept as much truth in there as possible, it would be easy. But sometimes, as I’ve learned with Naruto, the truth slips out.

“What did you want to know?”    
\---

**Naruto’s PV**

You can learn a lot about someone just by the way they answer questions. When people lie to make themselves looks good, they usually go too big and will later trap themselves in their fortress of deceit. It’s rare that people will tell full truths but so far Sasuke has been more than honest with me, he’s been genuine.

Either way we’re in a dizzying tango right now and the wrong steps on his part will tell me a lot about him. And I’ll get closer to that hidden heart, shrouded in the darkness.

“What do you do for a living?”

_And one and two…_

“Oh nothing much, I’m basically a piece of shit nephew who mooches off my uncle because he has too much money on his hands and he doesn’t care if I do it. He wants to keep what’s left of the family together.” No hesitation, no twitches, no nothing. He isn’t bullshitting me.

“’What’s left of the family?’”

_And three and four…_

Sasuke nods. “Hn. I come from a relatively large family but they’re spread so far and in between, my uncle just wants my brother and me close and safe.”

“So is your brother also a piece of shit who mooches off your uncle?”

_And five and six…_

Sasuke’s laughter breaks the flow of conversation. He’s not uncomfortable. It’s not nervous laughter, it’s genuine. “No, he’s not. Class act, he is. He does a lot of odd jobs for my uncle since he’s starting to get on in his years. So just I am the little shit. The spoiled rotten little shit.” Sasuke’s joking around with me, he’s in a good mood. This is a breeze for him, and as far as I know our dance has not gone off rhythm. Time to add a few new moves into the dance…

_And seven and eight…_

“What about your parents? You keep mentioning your uncle but not them.”

“Dead. Died when I was eight. My uncle has taken care of me since then.”

_And…And…_

“I know what it’s like to grow up without parents.” I point at myself. “Orphaned, age six. Car crash.”

“Murder…” His voice is a quiet and my eyes widen, a red flag going off in my head. I don’t know why it’s there so for now, I’m just going to ignore it. So much about him raises flags but I still don’t know why.

“You’ve probably been hearing sorry your entire life so I’ll refrain from saying it, for your mental sake.” His eyes are watching me, looking at me. Analyzing me. It takes two to tango so I know I’d have to let him take the lead eventually. “I hated hearing it when I was a kid so eventually I stopped telling people about it.”

 _Take the lead._  
\--

_Sasuke’s PV_

“I know what you mean.”

Reckless creature, there’s always a bullet in the Russian roulette. We’ll see though, just where the bullet lies with you, Naruto. But for now, let’s take it safe, make it simple. Make you relax.

_Cocked and loaded. FIRE._

“So Naruto, what is it you do for a living?” I smirk and he laughs into his glass, raising it towards me like he’s about to give a toast. Joke appreciated.

“You’ll find that I have an extensive knowledge and references at my disposal for any given job.” His voice and face slowly turn straight and professional. He smiles gently like he’s about give a presentation to me and I raise an eyebrow. “I graduated top of my class from Princeton, then later went back for my masters at the young age of eighteen…I was a, uh, child genius you see, and you’re just a funny little shit aren’t ya?” He’s resting his head on the folded backs of his hands; his voice is scrunched in amused, yet unamused, sarcasm. He smile is wrinkled by his hands, it’s still cute.

_Click…_

“Cute, very cute.” I mutter, taking a sip of my water. “But I feel idle chit-chat is a little old hat, don’t you think?”

Naruto leans back in his chair a little, raising an eyebrow. “So, you wanna play hard-ball Sasuke? Fine, you’re right anyway, a lot of this is just filling in the gaps. We have time for that later. To be honest, right now, I don’t really care what your favorite color is.” I like him more and more…

_Hammer back…_

“How did you get into the life?”

_FIRE…_

“When I was sixteen I tried heroine for the first time. I had bad judgment and an addictive personality, recipe for disaster. Seven shitty years later, I’ve moved addictions from drugs to sex. At the very least, it’s safer.”

_Click…_

_Wait…New shooter…_

_Hammer back…_

“What about you, Sasuke? Indulge me in your prostitution stint. I feel like it was short lived…”

_FIRE…_

He’s pinned me down. I can’t just refuse to tell him about my experience when he just told me about his own. I realize I’ve played myself into a corner and admit defeat.

“Well, let’s just say I was being a rebellious, ungrateful little shit at the time. And when my addiction hit me hard and I had cut all my dealer ties, I became a little too desperate. And I mean the sex wasn’t ‘kill-myself-later-about-it’ bad so I guess that’s a bonus.”

I could feel heat rising up in my face. I hated talking about that. It was the worst. I literally hated myself so much at that point; I didn’t even want to know that I existed from sixteen to seventeen.

_BLAM…Clean-up, please._

“Hello, I’m Katsuko, I’ll be your waitress this evening. What can I get started for you?” I glance over at our happy little waitress. Well, her face is all smiles but her body language spells out a completely different story. She’s tired, her back is sore and so are her arms from carrying trays. She’s annoyed with the co-worker who’s standing across the room from her. I can tell that from how she stands; her back fully and completely to him so that he cannot even enter her line of sight.

Naruto is all smiles as he looks to me. “Sasuke, you’re loaded, right?”

I am. Madara just sent me nearly five grand for just this month so I’m at a very good financial standing. But…”Why? Are you going to order everything on the menu?”

“Oh no, I’m just making sure we have enough cash in case I lose.”

“Lose?” Naruto is losing me…

“I’ll take the hundred ounce challenge, please.” The woman stares at Naruto and I can’t help but join her. Naruto is a lithe, almost fragile looking creature. The thought of him eating a hundred ounces of steak, a side salad, and a baked potato baffled me.

“Are you sure?” The waitress asks, a little incredulous.

“I want that shirt.” Naruto replies, smiling a foxy little smile. “The free meal is just a bonus.”

“Alright…And for you, sir?”

I stare at her blankly, forgetting what I was originally going to order. “Uh, just tonight’s special please…”

She nods, taking our menus. I look to Naruto, who is all smiles and cockiness. Though, I feel like Naruto is something else completely. He hides behind his beauty, his smiles. He is something touched by evil but forced to wear robes of good to hide himself from the people around him. He’s something so unique…  
\----

“I still can’t believe you managed to eat all of that in less than an hour.” I say as I open the door to my house, holding it open so Naruto can come in. He’s still all smiles and laughter. But now, there’s a real reason, proof of that was his incredibly obnoxious shirt from the challenge.

 “I told you, me and food, disgustingly beautiful relationship.” Naruto was so fucking beautiful, even though he literally just stuffed himself not even half an hour ago, right in front of me. He pats his stomach, getting a cheeky grin on his face. “But, I’ve saved room for a little a Sasuke-sweet desert.”

“Oh, have you?” I take him by the hand and lead him through my house. I swing him around the corner of my kitchen and into my arms, he’s giggling as I breath hotly against his neck, biting gently at the space beneath his ear. He’s basically purring.

“God, you can have me now if you keep that up.”

Arousal strikes into my blood and I feel the rush of desire as it shoots down my spine and into my groin. I’m already hard. And my bedroom is so close…I can handle another minute or two of torture. We head up my stairs; I’m still encasing him in my arms, which makes him laugh that breathy, heady laugh of his. So fucking sexy…

When I reach my room, I feel the lust in my gut replacing itself with a hot-boiling annoyance. The shower in my bathroom is running. So, not only is Itachi still here, he’s also in my shower. I frown and Naruto looks up at me, kissing me softly on the cheek.

“I’m assuming that’s the mysterious brother, I’ve heard about.”

“Yeah…He likes using all of my shampoo and eating all my oatmeal.” Naruto can’t help but crack-up from that.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll go have a cigarette so you don’t offend me with your television mature words. I’m such a gentle soul…” I nod, smirking at him. When he exits my room, I kick the door to my bathroom open…  
\---  
 **Naruto’s PV**

Sasuke’s house is better than I imagined. Actually, everything is better than I imagined. Everything is so perfect right now. I am in bliss. Rare for me, very rare in fact. Bliss usually only came in the form of a needle and a baggie, but now it comes in the form of a smirk and a kiss. I smile to myself as I take another drag.

I hadn’t told Sasuke that my phone had been going off all night. I find it rude when people do nothing but pay attention to their phone, so I just ignored it. But I figure, since I have a few minutes, I might as well check it. Sai…Twelve missed calls. Must be important.

I dial his number and hit send, flicking ash on the concrete as I wait. For someone who called so many times as he did, you’d think he’d answer quickly…

_“Naruto, I’ve tried to call you so many times. Where are you? I stopped by your apartment and everything.”_

I roll my eyes. He’s so nosy sometimes and it really bothers me that he will just randomly break into my apartment if I don’t answer his calls. So childish. “Obviously I’m not there.”

_“I’m sorry, I was just worried something happened to you.”_

I know where that apprehension comes from so I can’t be too angry. He has that apprehension because of every risky move I’ve ever pulled and that same apprehension saved my life too many times for me to admit. I cough as I stomp out my cigarette, throwing the butt somewhere into the grass. “Don’t worry about me; I’m just out and about. Now, what did you want to tell me that was so ungodly important? I’m running short on time for this call.”

 _“I found out what you wanted to know about Itachi’s little brother. And yes, it is a little brother. I checked to make sure.”_ Great police work, detective…I open the door to Sasuke’s house and kick my shoes off.

“As unimportant as that is, what else did you find out? Do you know if he’s alive?” I ask, making my way into the kitchen. I hear some soft rustling but assume that it’s just the mystery brother. I stop in the small adjacent hallway. For now, I’ll keep a low profile and be mildly friendly to him. But to show that I’m not the true epitome of rudeness, I’ll finish my call with Sai before wandering into the kitchen.

_“Like I said earlier, he’s been labeled missing. And you know police, we think if you’ve been missing over three weeks you’re probably dead. This kid has been missing for nearly fifteen years. He was eight at the time of the massacre, and most his family hadn’t seen him since his eighth birthday. There were searches for months, even years to find either Itachi or his brother, but they turned up with nothing. But we already knew searches for Itachi were dead ends anyway. He’s too clean to be caught with his pants down.”_

“Well, Sai, that’s all fine and good, but this still doesn’t really help me. I mean, this kid has been missing for so many years and if he’s alive, he’s either the protégé or a twenty-three year old shut-in because of how afraid he is. He’d be nearly impossible for me to find in a short time span. And let’s face it, if Itachi knows where he is, he’s done for. And if the kid isn’t alive then, well, that’s no help either.”

_“You’re right, of course. Sasuke’s missing person’s case has been cold from day one, but I guess it was still worth looking into…”_

I freeze when I hear that. That name…Did he just say…”What did you say?”

_“What? Oh, right. The kid’s name is Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke. I forgot to mention that, huh?”_

I almost drop my phone as I head into the kitchen, catching a glimpse of flowing black hair. I barely have time to duck when a well-aimed kitchen knife comes flying in my direction. Two inches and I would be a dead man. I should have known...I should have known why Sasuke was so familiar.  

“Hello, Nines.” Itachi sits at the center island, a bowl in front of him of what appears to be oatmeal. “I never thought I’d see you again, especially not in my own home.” He turns to look at me and I see nothing in those eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi reveals that Madara is after Naruto for information, and Sasuke learns of Naruto's not too clean past, that the blond, much like his brother dabbled in pain and panic before switching to pleasure.   
> But the question remains...What does Madara want to know?

I breathe heavily and I realize my phone is still on. I hang up and slide the device back into my pocket. I start laughing. I’ve unknowingly just signed my death warrant. “Just my luck, I don’t even go looking for you and you show up. What are the chances? I’m not even armed…”

Itachi puts his spoon down, clicking his tongue as he stands up. He is grace, he is beauty. His face is ambivalent and I can’t read him. I’ve looked upon this face several times now and I cannot get into that well-guarded treasure. He is unreadable. “So, your real name is Naruto, eh? Cute. I guess Kurama isn’t something you’ll respond to anymore, am I right?” I’m silent and he laughs. “The family resemblance, it’s uncanny, right? Sasuke and I share very similar blood; we had the same _parents_ , after all. At least, now you can tell. You know who he looks even more like, though? Your favorite Uchiha; Madara.” So the kind Uncle is really a fucking monster, perfect. Now I’m completely fine with Sasuke sponging off him.

I move slowly, away from the wall and further into the room. The knife is literally at arm’s reach, but I don’t trust my speed. I should have grabbed it in midair but I had been so shocked that I didn’t predict the attack early enough. Itachi reaches down, grabbing yet another knife from his leg. He’s giving me a very bland, plastic smile. I can’t help but have my heart skip a beat. “So, Nines, let me tell you how this is going to go...Madara has been looking for you. If you cooperate with me, I’ll let you live. If you decide to be a little fucker, like I feel like you will, I’m cutting off your dick and fucking you with it.”

“Oh, is that a promise or a threat?” Itachi gives me a genuine smirk. How did I not see the resemblance before? Sasuke and Itachi have the exact same smirk. They have the same manner of speaking and probably even dress the same. How was I so blind? “Why is Madara looking for me? I’m not Jinchuuriki anymore.”

Itachi slams the knife blade down into the counter; he twists it in and it chips the marble. “Madara is not after blood money, if that’s what you’re thinking. He wants information. And he already knew that you left the Jinchuuriki. He’s been looking for you for some time, but I never thought you’d come walking into my house so you could fuck my little brother.”

I quickly grab the knife out of the wall, holding it defensively in front of myself. I know the last thing I should do is get into a knife fight with Uchiha Itachi, but I don’t have my lucky nines revolver. I can’t be picky. Itachi laughs again. “What does Madara want to know?” I ask, my voice sounding confident but I can’t stop my hand from shaking.

Itachi shrugs. “I don’t know.” He tilts his head up to look away from the knife and to look me in the eye. “All I know is that he’s been looking for you since you left the business. All the other Jinchuuriki won’t talk and he knows you’ll be the most cooperative. If you do well, he’ll probably give you whatever you want. Madara is gracious man, when he wants to be.” Itachi is silent for a moment before he removes his hand completely from the handle of the knife. I can tell he doesn’t want the fight. Probably because Sasuke is right upstairs. I wonder whose side he’d take. Sasuke may be Itachi’s little brother, but, just because I assume Itachi has been training him, there is a chance Sasuke could be on my side. Though, when it comes to these things, it’s rare. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Why did you leave the business? I didn’t know I scared you that badly.” Itachi is smirking and I scoff softly.

“I had actually left the business before my scuffle with you.” I say, turning my head away from him, only very slightly. “I got fucked over on my last contract and the police were all over me. I was set-up by the client. He was working with the bureau the entire time. So, they used my crimes against me. Though, at the time I still wasn’t sober but I realized I didn’t want to do this anymore. However, you know how the police are. I didn’t want to go to prison and freedom has its price.”

“I was the price?” Itachi face flashes with cockiness but it quickly fades. “A little too high of a price if you ask me, but you were the best profiler in the business, so I’m not entirely surprised. The police probably had their eye on you for years before they decided it was time to act…” I know I shouldn’t be enjoying the praise Itachi is giving me, but this is the most notorious man alive right now, so I will bask in his compliments. Sincerity, just like mercy, is not something Itachi is known for. “The fact, alone, that you managed to track me down that night is enough to impress anyone. My presence barely stirs a ripple, if I so chose. No one can read my movements efficiently. People like you can, even though, I know, you have much difficulty, right?” I nod, no point in lying. “I knew there was an alternative motive for you coming after me, which is why I left you alive. I wanted to see how things played out for you.”

It’s finally my turn to smirk. “Well, I’m always dealt the shittiest of hands so I’m not very fun to watch. My drug addiction may be over but I got hooked again on sex and I couldn’t find a real job with my background and lack of what people considered ‘skills’ so I used my addiction to save me.” I lift my shirt to show him what was left of the scar he had given me. His face is blank. “I got a tattoo of the sun to remind myself of when I flew to close and let my wax wings melt. I was still so doped up in my pride then that I thought taking you down would be just as easy as any contract. You burned me.”

“Sasuke was right about you. You really are something else.”

“I am quite prized for having a good opinion on things.” Sasuke walks casually into the kitchen and Itachi leans back against the chair he’s sitting in. “So, who’s going to tell me what’s going on?” Itachi and I exchange a glance and to my surprise it seems like even Itachi is hesitant to answer Sasuke. Perhaps I didn’t read deeply enough into their relationship. “Don’t be a son of a bitch, Itachi. I want answers.”

“Yes and I want a kitten but we don’t always get what we want, do we?” Itachi shrugs his shoulders and Sasuke reaches out for the knife in the marble. He pulls it free with little difficulty and flips it in his hand. He leans over his brother and Itachi is incredibly blasé for having no weapon and a highly trained assassin next to him.

“Itachi…”

“Hn?”

“Tell me…”

Itachi rests his face on the back of his hand, the elbow on the counter gently pushes the bowl of oatmeal next to him as he slumps slightly. “Hn, and what will you do for me?”

Sasuke tilts his head and exposes an expanse of beautifully white skin. “What do you want? The aforementioned kitten, perhaps? That seems quite a hefty price for information…”

Itachi smirks softly as Sasuke places a hand on Itachi’s shoulder. He’s holding the knife over Itachi’s shoulder, blade pointed outward as his eyes watch, observe…Itachi places his hand over Sasuke’s, huffing a little. “We both know Kisame would end up killing that kitten somehow, he’s no good with pets. Besides, why would I want a kitten when I can have my little Sasu-Neko?”  

To my surprise Sasuke gently rubs his face against Itachi’s and for a brief moment I believed they were going to kiss but it was only so he could move closer to stare into his brother’s eye. “Tell me, brother. Or perhaps I will throw a fit?”

Itachi smirks wickedly as he leans back, putting a slight distance between him and his brother. “Oh, a fit? Aren’t we a bit too old for not using words?”

“No.” Sasuke’s answer was laconic and his eyes seem somewhat cold as he takes a glance over at me from his shoulder. He turns towards me and Itachi frowns but seems somehow to be amused by all of this. “What about you, will you tell me?”

“If I throw an offer on the table, will I get it?” I smile and that causes Sasuke’s mouth to twitch into a smirk. He’s still interested in me. Perhaps that infatuation may be enough to save me from being thrown to the sharks.

“You have a better hand to play with than Itachi does, so perhaps you will get what you wager for.”

Oh boy. It’s time yet again for another information tango. I lower the knife in front of me, letting my arm swing to the side. “I’ll tell you Sasuke because I like you, but you have to promise that when it’s over you won’t get angry.”

Sasuke clicks his tongue, shaking his head. “Oh, see, therein lies the problem. I cannot control whether or not I get angry based upon what you say. And then by me promising that I won’t get angry, could potentially spell out me being a liar and I really don’t like to go back on my promises.” Sasuke moves away from Itachi, punctuating his sentences with swings of the knife in his hand. “Now either say what you’re going to say, or I’ll force it out of you two some way.”

Sasuke smiles at me and I glance back at Itachi. He shrugs and turns back to the bowl next to him. I suppose that means I have lone responsibility for delivering the news. “Alright. How about…You won’t kill me afterwards? Does that seem more fair in comparison?”

The ravens lock eyes for a moment and Itachi smirks, shrugging yet again. He’s letting Sasuke make his own decisions so I suppose I could be okay after this. But I cannot be sure. “Fine. I won’t kill you.”

“Fair is fair then. I’ll tell you. Your brother and I have a little history, but I could even go as far to say that your immediate family and I have history. I know Madara as well.” I swallow softly, smiling nervously as Sasuke’s eyes watch me. They’re judging me, looking for the truth in words that can’t be truer. “I wasn’t always a prostitute.”

Itachi chuckles softly and we both direct our attention to him. I’ll admit, I’ve gotten around but these past couple years is the only time I’ve sold my body for money. “Sorry, continue. Just ignore me.”

“I liked having sex when I was really high, okay? I’ll admit to that. But I wasn’t selling my body until after I got out of the business.”

“Don’t justify yourself to me.” Itachi says, glancing back at me, smirking all the while.

“What do you mean ‘the business’...?” Sasuke’s eyes burn holes into my skull as he stares at me. His grip on the knife increases and I flip the blade in my hand to insure if I get into a knife fight, it won’t just fly out of my hand. “Are you…”

“Naruto was a gun for hire; a damn good one too. Before he left the Jinchuuriki his official name in the Bingo Book was Nines Kurama.”

“You? You were a member of Jinchuuriki? I don’t believe it.” Sasuke scoffs. And Itachi just shakes his head at his brother’s incredulous nature. It’s good to know that Sasuke isn’t just blind, he has his own mind. I could have assumed differently. But then again I know very little about Sasuke and Itachi’s relationship. It seems relaxed yet at the point of snapping given a certain brand of stimulus. I suppose time will tell. 

I raise an eyebrow at him. “It isn’t the most unbelievable thing that could have been said. I mean, why else would your brother have attacked me? Unless of course I had also been a contract killer or even worse, an undercover cop. If I was just anyone else, would Itachi have felt the need to throw a kitchen knife at me? I feel not.”

“Itachi stabbed one of my boyfriends to death. He’s killed for less.”

I give an amused look to Itachi and he clicks his tongue, grabbing Sasuke by the ear and pulling him down to his level. “Otouto, you’d do well not to give Naruto more information than necessary. He wasn’t _just_ an assassin.”

He releases Sasuke’s ear and the younger of the ravens narrows his eyes. Sasuke rubs the injured area gently, glaring at Itachi, who smirks quite happily. He’s so beautiful. Sasuke is incredibly beautiful. The problem is now though that I cannot help but see his Uchiha blood and nothing more. I can see Madara in his face; Itachi in his eyes. And seeing the two of them next to each other, they look like a fitted pair. Obviously blood. How could I not see it? I knew I wasn’t getting rusty but a part of me didn’t want to believe that Sasuke’s influence was bright enough to blind me. Could this be…?

No. There is no way. This wouldn’t happen to me. Not this quickly.

It was impossible for me to be in love with Sasuke.

I am something that does not walk in the light. I exist in the shadowed places forgotten by the sun. I was not something created to feel love. Especially for someone like Sasuke. But then, why does my heart thunder so?

Maybe even creatures who live in the dark yearn for something more…

“What do you mean by that, Aniki?” Sasuke’s voice was strangely child-like as he leans over, digging his elbow into the junction of Itachi’s shoulder and neck. The older Uchiha smirks at the gesture, obviously annoyed and amused at the same time. It is interesting seeing the two of them interact. It seems to be the only time Itachi will allow me to look directly at his core; let me past the wall of ice and into his fiery center.

Itachi licks his spoon clean and drops it into his bowl with a loud clank. He turns the island’s chair towards me and appraises me with his eyes. We make brief eye contact and his face becomes unreadable. I cannot understand how it is possible for one person to completely remove any hints of emotion from their entire being. It should be impossible. Itachi is not human. He has passed through the plain of simple existence. He is the sun; surrounded by the enveloping cold of the void and burning hot when approached. A being of his caliber shouldn’t exist.

“You’ve taken him on a date and fucked him, not in that order I might add, but you’ve undoubtedly gotten a taste of what makes him so irresistible to us creatures of the underworld. He has _quite_ a knack for reading people.”

Sasuke’s eyes instantly narrow. “So my observation about you wasn’t unwarranted; you’re a professional after all. Incredible. I never thought I’d meet someone like you who wasn’t already buried. Your kind is hunted.”

“Cursed, I think is a better description.” I mutter, smiling. “And every Jinchuuriki can profile, I just happened to be the best out of the nine. But either way, I was sought after like a precious gem. It wasn’t exactly the most stable life and as soon as I dropped into the void of un-affiliation, I became even more prized. Nothing more useful than a profiler who has no qualms working against or for anyone. It can be quite riveting watching men squirm, cracking open their heads for all the juicy bits inside.”

“Is that why the pigs had you cramped under their thumbs? How unfortunate.” Itachi says, leaning back slightly. “You should just kill them all, ya know? It wouldn’t be that difficult.”

I smile at Itachi. “I wasn’t a born killer like someone in this room. It was easier for me to profile than to actually kill. Why do you think I was so fucked up all the time? Drugs dumb your moral compass just enough to make your life bearable when you carry out the deed. And they numb you enough so you can live with yourself afterwards. It made it easier to live the life I had.”

“Had?” Sasuke’s grip tightens even more on the handle.

And now all of my years of lying need to come through and help me through this situation. The last thing I need is to make Sasuke a liar. And even if I didn’t make him a liar, Itachi has to problems with upholding the truth. I should have never taken this job.

“My last contract betrayed me to the cops and they gave me an ultimatum; kill Uchiha Itachi or go to prison. And I wasn’t exactly keen on going to prison. I didn’t wanna deal with the men I’d put there. I’d framed countless chumps and betrayed other to be caught for their crimes. Chances of living through more than a week weren’t exactly stacked in my favor…Especially since I’d be weakened by withdrawals and what people knew about me would spread like wildfire. Profilers always get labeled as narcs. I would have been a dead man walking if I had gone to prison. At least if I tracked your brother, there was a chance I could live. I was lucky that day…The day I found him was the day Itachi decided to show, even a brief moment, a single particle of mercy. And after that, I fell off the radar. The police haven’t come after me since and I’ve been living my life anonymously. I lived under my given name and it was like Kurama never existed. Until I met you…” I look at Sasuke and he averts his eyes from me. I wonder if he feels bad about putting me on the spot like this. I wonder if he had wanted to get to know me under different circumstances.

Sasuke’s face was soft for a moment and he tossed the knife into the sink. “I thought people were smart enough to know not to mess with you.” He looks at Itachi and his brother shrugs.

“Desperate times, I suppose.” Itachi stands, placing his dishes into the sink. “I always wondered, Naruto, how long did it take you to track me down that time?”

I feel relief flood into my veins. They aren’t going to kill me. I’ll live through this night and perhaps another. “It didn’t take me long when I figured out your secret. Because when I encountered you that day, I didn’t track you. I tracked Kisame. He leaves quite the trail, unlike you, and I knew he was your partner so I figured if I tracked him long enough, you’d show up.”

I feel a sudden presence behind me and before I can turn fully…  
\---

**_Sasuke’s PV_ **

Hn, just when you think he couldn’t be more of an idiot.

Kisame comes barreling in, sneaking up behind Naruto and just, bam, right to the back of the head. Itachi and I just stare at the man in front of us, smiling triumphantly yet also looking back at us expectantly.

Goddamn guard shark.

Itachi rubs his temples and leans over Naruto’s collapsed form. Blood is trickling out from a small cut in his scalp and I’m not that concerned. It was enough to knock him out, not to kill. Kisame would have just shot him if he wanted Naruto dead.

“Itachi, why are you looking at me like that? Madara’s been looking for Kurama for a pretty long time. And after that announcement about how he tracked me down, it looked like he was reliving his old hard-on for you. So why does your face say that I’m an idiot?”

Itachi kneels, scooping up the body and cradling it to his chest. “You have impeccable timing as always, love.” He turns to me and holds out the body. “Here, you’re the one with the obvious heart-boner for him, go and take him somewhere safe. I need to call Madara.”

I take Naruto’s weight from Itachi and he reaches into his pocket. “What does Uncle want with him?”

“Hn, were you not listening? He’s a profiler. Madara obviously is looking for someone. That’s the only thing I can think of. He’s tried different Jinchuuriki but Naruto is the best of them all.” Itachi side-steps Kisame and the large man approaches me as I throw Naruto over my shoulder.

“Neh, kid. Did I walk in on something strange?”

I didn’t exactly know how to tell him that he kind of ruined everything. I had wanted to know everything Naruto was prepared to tell me. I wanted to see what kind of secrets I could get from that delicious locked away safe, but Kisame just decided to be an idiot and wander in like we couldn’t handle it. I mean, it’s not like Itachi couldn’t have handle it by himself, but also having me there would have been an automatic win. Naruto obviously knew that. He was biding his time and being very calculated about his responses. There was no way he could have gotten away from Itachi _and_ me.  

 “How do I explain this...? Naruto was the prostitute I was seeing and I guess he and Itachi had a brief altercation in the kitchen before I came downstairs demanding answers. You walked in around the part where he was telling us about how he tracked Itachi down the first time and I guess you missed enough context to overreact.” I say, very blank and Kisame’s already dark skin darkens even farther. Nothing like making someone feel bad about having their instincts take over. I mean, I had planned on knocking Naruto out anyway but still, I had wanted to do it on my terms. I didn’t want him to escape, I still had plans for him. I may have said that I wasn’t going to kill him but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to sexually torture that body until he begged for death. Loopholes are my favorite.

“That face of yours is absolutely wicked.” Kisame mutters. “Remember, _alive_. Madara needs him so don’t do anything outrageous, okay?”

“Pause there for a moment,” Itachi says as he scurries back into the room. He hands me the phone and I look at him as though he’s handing me a blanket covered in the plague. “He wants to speak to you.”

“He’s gunna yell at me.” I say, glancing down at the device. Itachi and I trade a glance as he tries to force the phone into my hand. A cough interrupts our scuffle and Itachi just holds the phone out to me again.

“ _You’re damn right I’m going to yell at you_.” Madara’s voice could be heard clearly through the receiver and I just glare at Itachi for putting his phone on speaker. “ _Do you know when the last time you called me was? Two weeks ago. That’s bullshit Sasuke, I know you’re not busy. All you do is jerk it and get high_.”

I look away, feeling annoyance spiral up through my blood. Here we go. I don’t call for two weeks and Uncle nearly has a heart attack. This is exactly why I avoid calling him. Even if I alternated days, he still yells at me. Or when I do call, he’s always busy. There is no pleasing him at all.

“ _Although, given the tasty treat you practically hand delivered, I’ll let it slide_.” I glance down at the device and Itachi props up the arm holding up his phone with his opposite hand. He’s staring off into space as Uncle chuckles wickedly. “ _Neh, neh, Sasuke-baby, I have a very specific task for you_.”

I look skeptically at the phone in my brother’s hand and then look up at his face. He shrugs and hands it over, and this time, I actually accept it. I take it off speaker and hold it to my head. “What is it?”  
\--

Of course when Uncle Madara tells me he has something specific in mind for me, I’ll definitely listen. Since Itachi practically bars me from doing anything related to Uncle, I revel when he specifically acknowledges me. I could just purr. It may sound stupid, but I love Madara. He is so much like me. I crave his attention.

And of course, craving his affection gets me in other trouble with different important members of the family. Annoying as it all is, somehow we manage not to kill each other. And that is worthy of some recognition, trust me.

I lay Naruto flat onto my bed.

Uncle had very specific instructions for me about what he needed me to do. And I wasn’t foolish enough to disobey him. If Madara wants Naruto wrapped with a bow, I’d run out to the store to find the biggest ribbon they have. However, it seems that lovely big brother also spilled a different can of beans to dearest uncle about my illicit relations with said blond on my bed. Luckily for me, he wasn’t angry. Even more fortunate, Uncle has a very agreeable plan in store for my prize.

I get on the bed next and place my hands on either side Naruto’s head, looming over him. So much temptation to strike, so much temptation to take that body. I stroke my hand down his cheek and Naruto’s sleeping form doesn’t respond. As much as I would have loved for Naruto to wake up by now, it wouldn’t allow Uncle and me to carry out our little surprise. I lean in, lips hovering over his, I can feel the heat of his face near mine.

“Sasuke, as much as I like to observe you in your natural element, seeing you in the midst of your mating rituals grosses me out.” Itachi mutters, Madara standing behind him. He and Itachi are about the same height so the only way I could see Madara was when he steps to the side, obscuring my view of the right side of Itachi’s face. He is smirking, eyes narrowing slightly as the amusement bounces off him in waves. “Also, Uncle is here.”

“Thank you for stating the obvious and coming into my room without knocking.”

“You’re welcome. And I’ll leave you both to your interrogation. Kisame and I have an assignment.” Kisame looms in the doorway, moving so Itachi could exit. He waves to me before shutting the door behind the two of them. Well, at least Kisame will forever be civil.

I turn, moving off of Naruto and summersault over the end of my bed, causing Uncle to chuckle at me. He approaches me slowly, coming up to holding me tightly in his arms. He digs his nose into my hair, holding me firmly in his arms as I wrap around him. It has been awhile since I got to feel Uncle’s strong body against me, breath in that scent which soothes my nightmares, and have that odd chuckle which still gives me shivers of admiration. “Oh Sasuke, what will I do with you?” He kisses the top of my head and I flatten my face against his shoulder. He smells exactly the same as he did when I was a child. His neck was musky from his cologne, the hands that hold my hair linger with the stale hint of cigarettes, and as he puts them around my back, I can smell the scent stronger. And then there’s the softness of his laundry detergent which reminds of the warm days in spring when the flowers and trees are in bloom.

He pulls away from me and I whimper in my throat when his warmth leaves me. “Oh, my, my. You always were my sweetest child.” He gently touches my face, still smirking at me. “And what a reliable child you’ll always be.”

“Why do you need Naruto?” I ask, my eyes taking in Uncle as he stalks around my bed like a wild panther. Large, lethal, so full of power. Madara’s eyes tilt towards me as he walks towards my bed. His eyes are full of knowledge. He knows, of course, everything that has transpired between Naruto and myself, so he knows I have an affection for him. Maybe affliction is a better choice of words.

“Oh? Are you going to be protective? I won’t encroach on your territory, Sasuke, but I will leave a few words for you to think about. Never fall in love with a whore.”

“I’m aware Madara. I’m just waiting for my moment to strike him down.”

“Then it is already too late.” Madara mutters as he places his hand on Naruto’s face. My eyes narrow at him as he reels back, glancing at me from over his shoulder. “Do you know where he got these scars?”

I look at Naruto’s face; his whiskers. I assumed when I met him that they were birthmarks since they weren’t indented or rough like scars. “I didn’t even know they were scars…” Madara continues to smirk and strips Naruto’s upper body of clothing.

“Well, looks like a little fox was busy.” His hand was against Naruto’s stomach, stroking the spiral pattern which rested darkly against Naruto’s tanned skin. I feel a glare working its way up but manage to choke it back from my face. Uncle Madara never did take kindly to insubordination. “He had a scar here too, from when Itachi nearly gutted him. Did you know that?” I hate when Uncle does this. He tries to prove how much his age has really given him and just how much his influence protects me from the world. I huff, looking away from him. I feel his presence shift. Before I can shift away, he grabs onto my face, turning me towards him so I will look into his eyes. “Sasuke, look at him. He’s beautiful, but dangerous. He tried to kill Itachi, you know? I mean, obviously it wasn’t successful but either way you have a sleeping lion in your domain, are you ready to take that risk?”

“Uncle, I’ve been fucking him, that’s it. You act as though I’ve already booked our tickets to Tahiti and are planning our romantic summer wedding.”

“Oh Sasuke, if you’re going to have a wedding in Tahiti, you really should go in Fall or Winter, so much less expensive and it won’t be freezing either. Maybe a little rainy but indoors should be fine with the right venue.” 

My entire family is made of sarcasm.

I stare at him hard and he just raises his hands in defeat. “Anyway, I’ve brought some supplies for this. And you’ll be adamant to see this interrogation. I want you to see why Naruto has been such a prized item, Itachi may have told you some things about him but I doubt you’ve really seen what a profiler of Naruto’s status can really do. His brain is like a sponge; it’s why I’ve been looking for him. Of course, you’ve been infinitely more helpful because you’ve found out what I could not. A name that has a long history behind it. His given name; not the name of his servitude.”

“What does Naruto know?”

Madara places the bag he’s been carrying onto my bed and opens it. He pulls out ropes and things unmentionable in polite company. “All things in due time my precious pet. Now, go grab a towel for the blood. Kisame isn’t exactly gentle though he served his purpose.”  
\---

I have to say, Uncle knows his way around a rope. And I hate to admit that even with him standing right next to me, hand on my shoulder, arousal is pooling in my stomach.

Naruto’s arms are bound to my headrest. He could pull them down and move slightly but it will serve him no good because his legs are tied as well. His knees bent and spread so all of his delicious and sensitive flesh is exposed; even his most intimate of roses is splayed for my viewing pleasures. Calves to thighs ensures a great view but then tying excess rope to my bottom bed posts means he won’t be able to move his hips and shut his legs.

Uncle’s methods are really quite easy to understand. Naruto’s addictions lies with sins of the flesh; lust, so deep rooted and passionate. Instead of torturing him with pain, why not give him pleasure until his body can stand it no more? Why not classically condition his good behavior and reward him with what he loves most? I, indeed, want to be the provider of that treat…

Madara hands me a remote controlled vibrator, smirking at me. I lean over the edge of my bed, grabbing lube from my night stand to be as kind as possible to his still silent, sleeping form. If he wakes up, my viewing fun may not be over, but the arousal will come in harder waves as I hear that voice cry out.

Gently, almost intimately, I shove the small toy deep into that puckered rose, admiring how greedy his hole is, even before the fun has even started. His body gives a soft quake as my fingers push the toy deeper and his half-arousal twitches.

“Sasuke, do you think we should wake him up now?” I have to force myself away from Naruto’s body, making myself stand next to uncle again as he hands me the remote. “Go on…”   

I couldn’t help myself. My fingers shake, my eyes widening as I slowly flick the button and move the knob to a higher setting, forcing myself to stop in the middle, a safe ground. Naruto’s body softly stirs. He moans quietly at first and then he arches as the vibration starts getting more intense. I can see he’s already struggling to figure out what is happening. He tries to pull his arms down, but to no avail. That’s when his eyes snap open and he’s looking at us, there’s fury, there’s rage, and most of all there’s lust in those big blue oceans. I smirk despite myself.

“Well then, it is very good to see you, _Naruto.”_

“I would say the same for you, Madara, but we both know I’d be lying.” Naruto is trying with a lot of difficultly to hold his voice steady. His mouth is slowed by the toy pushing into his sensitive nerves and scrambling his brain. I love it.

“Not a very nice greeting.” Madara looks over at me and nods. I turn down the vibration and Naruto slows his breathing. He’s glaring at me but there’s a look of amusement on his face.

“Sasuke, if you wanted to get kinky, you could have just asked.” Naruto winks at me. I smile even though Madara is staring me in the face, completely unamused.

“Why is he so nice to you?” Madara looks as though he’s about to throw a temper tantrum.

“Uh, he’s fucking me with that body of his. Have you seen it? It’s amazing. Gotta be nice to that Golden God.” My lips twitch again and Madara stalks over to the side of the bed, grabbing his bag again.

“Well, good to know, I guess.” Madara pulls out a vial with a needle and I immediately wonder what kind of game we’re about to be playing. I know he won’t give Naruto actual drugs but what could he possibly have in a bottle like that? “Naruto, I’m going to tell you a joke. Now I’ll qualify it now by saying it isn’t very good.” Madara puts the tip of the needle into the bottle and pulls the liquid into the needle. Naruto’s eyes fix on him and I can visibly see the sweat dripping down his forehead. “Ready?”

“Uncle, what exactly ar-“

“Shh…Not now, love.” Madara smiles and I can see all of his teeth. He’s annoyed. Now is when I need to keep my mouth shut. “Alright so the joke starts out with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden when God comes with a sack in hand. And God says, ‘Hey guys, I’ve just been giving out gifts to all of creation and I still have a few things left, you want anything?’ and Adam smiles so God hands him the sack which he starts looking through, he pauses when he finds something and immediately grins, pulling it from the bag.”

I feel sweat starting to pool at the top of my brow now. I don’t understand where Uncle is going with this. And I still don’t know what chemicals he has in that needle. Naruto’s face is a mixture of worry and confusion. What is your plan, Madara?

Madara begins again. “’This,’ he says with an increasingly large smile. ‘God, can I have this?’ God and Eve share a look. Adam was looking at them expectantly; he pulled out the ability to pee standing up. A gift for man and since Eve didn’t put up a fuss and just shrugged, God gave Adam that ability. Then Eve, sheepishly smiling and turning to God, who now holds the bag, asks ‘Well, is there anything for me left?” God smiles and says ‘of course, you can have this. It’s multiple orgasms.’” Madara finishes and I feel an extreme chill pass up my spine, which is only reaffirmed as Madara, viper quick, pushes the needle into Naruto’s neck. “Now, Naruto, men have what scientists call a ‘refractory period’ in which their bodies need a break before they can have another orgasm. And as my incredibly funny joke illustrates, this used to be only a gift for women, but for you, I’ll make an exception.”

Naruto’s breaths are short and raspy as a pained expression crosses his face. He arches upward and I nearly pin him down so he doesn’t dislocate his shoulder pulling himself so hard. “Oh and a little added bonus, aphrodisiac, you know. I like to spice things up. So, are you ready to begin?”

I get his game now. I understand all of it. He wasn’t going to use positive reinforcement at all, he was going use negative. With a hypersensitive body and the ability to cum in rapid succession, Naruto will definitely feel absolutely tortured…

I love it.

I want to see his face scrunched up in absolute agony but have his holes leaking like he’s in absolute bliss. He’ll be all the riper when I plunge into those depths. I smirk over Naruto, gently petting his face. He licks his lips looking at me, “Oh, we’re going to have more fun that I planned tonight.” His lips are pulsing red from the blood rushing around his body. His eyes are burning brightly as his skin tinges deeper and darker red.

Arousal is drowning out my other senses as I lean in closer. I can feel his hot breath on my lips, smell the stink of lust coming from his dripping holes. I get even closer and he leans up, giving me a very chaste kiss. I can feel the spark in his lips, the heat in a soft, baby of a kiss.

He smiles immediately as I swoop in, pressing my mouth into his. His body is shaking with need for contact. Unexpectedly, he whimpers and a shiver presses its way through my spine. I’m so aroused. Have I ever been this aroused by a single person before? I’m not sure but all I know is that I want more. I pry his mouth open with my tongue and he sighs; his breath is hot and musty in my mouth.

My fingers brush the side of his face where it is slick with sweat and what I can assume are tears. So much pent up desires, so much sensitivity, it must be driving him crazy. But I want to see a man taken to the edge. I slowly, very gently, nudge the knob of the vibrator higher. I hear him pulling at the wood with the ropes. He’s craving to touch me, I can tell because I also long for more contact. I turn the vibrator up all the way and Naruto releases a throaty moan into my mouth as I pull back from him.

“Temeee…” He whines in such a beautiful voice. “Yo-you ha-ave the rem-mote, don’t y-you?” He tries to hold his voice steady but the pleasure is obviously clouding his thoughts. I smirk, holding up the wireless plastic controller. His face darkens. “Y-You’re s-s-so cr-c-cruel.”

“Cruel?” I loom over him, dipping my head down to his chest and bite down on one of his nipples without warning. He nearly screams as his orgasm bursts from his body. The hot liquid hits me slightly on the cheek. I laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m nice, aren’t I? You don’t want Madara tease you like this, right? I’m just mediating so he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty, isn’t that a good thing?”

His face betrays his mood. He looks half-way to crying but his mouth is smiling with wicked intent. “Give me more, Sasuke. I want you.” It comes out perfectly, like he used all of his remaining will to fight, to form words instead. He wants it badly. I lean in again, just about to indulge him when Madara pulls back on the collar of my shirt.

“No, no, I think you’ve played enough. Besides, that boy is about to burst again, look at how badly his legs are twitching. Be good to us Naruto and I’ll let you play with Sasuke as much as you want.” Madara pulls me to my feet, taking the remote from me in the process. He must have turned it down because Naruto’s breathing becomes more even. I begin to pout. I was having fun. Madara leans over me, pulling me into his body. His hand brushes my hair back and gently caresses my cheek. “Be good, Sasuke. Don’t you want to be Naruto’s prize?” He pets me like a prized family cat and I can’t help but lean into the gentle touch anyway. I must be incredibly horny if Uncle’s petting of my hair makes me weak-kneed.

“What, are you going to sell me to his family now?”

“You’re definitely worth at least seven chickens and one of my father’s finest steers, I’d be happy to pay your bride price.” Naruto says and I can see he’s slowly return to a non-arousal tortured state.

Good for him.

I’m still nearly dying because of all the blood flow deciding my dick is still the best place to go.

“Uncle, that may be the best price you’d get considering Itachi would sell me for six boxes of sugary cereal.”

“That he would.” Madara replies, nodding. He slaps me gently on the cheek, bringing me slightly back into focus. “But all joking aside, Naruto. I think the fun and games have been going on long enough.” He leaves my side and comes to stand next to my bed. Both of his hands are behind his back and he’s looking down at Naruto as though the blond is a tasty rabbit for a hungry wolf. “Listen, I’ll make this as simple and painless for you as possible. I’m a reasonable man.” He turns, shrugging as he does so. But he’s viper quick, leaning over the bed, pulling Naruto up off the covers by his chin. “However, the minute you refuse to answer any of my questions, I’ll make your orgasm so many times that you won’t have a single viable sperm for at least seventy days.” He tosses Naruto back down and the blond huffs.

“That’s oddly specific.” Naruto mutters. “Fine, I’ll answer your questions. Go ahead. Might as well indulge you if my prize is a walking, talking man statue.”

Madara pauses for a moment as though he was composing himself and I look at him kind of sideways. He actually looks nervous. He hasn’t ever looked like this before; that I can remember, anyway. I don’t even think he broke a sweat when Itachi threatened to gut him when he was seventeen.

“I need you to tell me about Nagato.” Madara’s eyes glance down onto Naruto’s face.

Naruto’s silence is eerie. But as soon as he looks up at Madara he starts…Laughing? “That was not the person I thought you were going to ask about.”

“As much as I would love to know about Hashirama, there is a time and place for everything.” Madara replies, smiling. “Anyway, go on. Nagato.” Madara makes a sweeping motion so Naruto will continue.

But the blond raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Why do you wanna know about Nagato?”

Naruto immediately starts to twitch and writhe as Madara turns the toy inside him all the way up. “I’m asking the questions, pet. You should do well to remember that.”

“Okay, I get it!” Madara turns the toy down and Naruto’s breathing is heavy. “I’m warning you though, I don’t know that much.” Madara shrugs. “Nagato was one of my assignments. He was some small time kingpin, in the middle of your dope territory, no less. Is that why you want to know about him?”

Another push of the knob and the only thing coming from Naruto’s mouth is a string of hot, sticky saliva. Naruto huffs and puffs as heat burst through his skin, making it look tight and red. “RIGHT, sorry. I don’t know what you want me to tell you. He was your average assassination. He didn’t even know what hit him.”

“Who hired you for that assignment?” Madara asks, almost a little too quickly.

Naruto’s brows knit in confusion. “You’d have to ask Hashirama, I don’t know. We rarely ever met with our contract clients face to face. He made most of the deals without us and just passed out contracts. Like you do with Akatsuki.”

“I know you’re hiding something.”

Naruto looks up from the bed and glares. “How would you know for sure?”

Madara shrugs. “Punishment time!” He sings out nearly in glee as he turns the toy on again, all the way. Naruto moans loudly and pushes his body against the bed, writhing and squirming more and more.

“S-s…” He can’t even form the word, his body is so close to another orgasm. Tears stream down his face as he tries, again and again, to pull himself away from the pleasure. “P-plea-please!”

“Begging won’t help. And don’t go whining to Sasuke, he knows better.” Madara casts me a sideways glance and I hold my hands up in defeat. He’s right. That’s why he took the remote away from me in the first place.

Naruto’s body releases again and his eyes shoot open wide, saliva dripping steadily from his mouth as the sheer strength of his climax breaks through. But I notice that Naruto’s body is still leaking cum in a steady, small stream. So, Uncle wasn’t kidding about the refractory period being gone. Cumming over and over without being able to stop or take a break; that is the most heinous form of torture and delight I could ever imagine.

Too bad I’ve never thought about something that evil before. My brain really is going to waste.

Madara shuts off the vibrator again and Naruto is whining and whimpering, his mouth dribble soft words and pleas into my pillow as he turns his head away from us. “Let’s try that again. What can you tell me about Nagato?”

Uncle is being kind for the moment, letting Naruto recover briefly before making him speak. But I know, Uncle’s kindness is a borrowed item, it’s a matter of time before he wants it repaid, in full.

“He…He had an alias. I tracked him down under the name Pain.” Naruto’s breathy and panting harshly. “But he had a lot of underlings, too. It took me five times before I found the right guy. One of them was even a girl; they were all calling themselves Nagato or Pain. They were all running the empire. And your blue haired bitch, Konan…I think her name was…she was with them sometimes too.”

Madara’s eyes grew dark as he pulls out his phone. Yet another assassination order for Itachi and Kisame, I assume. Whoever this Nagato guy is, he has an eye in Uncles business. “Go on. There’s more isn’t there?”

Naruto shakes his head. “Ask something more specific. I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” The blond shudders a little, tilting his head towards Madara’s direction. He licks his lips. “Are you scared of him? He’s dead, I assure you. I killed him. Hashirama confirmed it.”

“He’s not dead.” Madara replies, quickly. “I know he’s not. I’ve seen him.” Uncle goes over to the bed and pulls out his phone. I catch a brief image of a man on the screen. “This is Nagato, are you saying you killed this man?”

Naruto’s face sinks. “No, I didn’t kill him.”

“That’s what I thought. And from your face, I can tell, you’ve probably only seen him once or twice. Tell me what you can about him.”

Naruto shakes his head. “I don’t know anything about him. He seemed close to all of the underlings, but he never did anything that I ever saw. He was crippled, confined to a wheelchair…The last one I killed, he acted like the real leader. I overheard him talking with a man in a mask, said something about how he wasn’t going to let them ruin everything they’d worked for…”

“Man in a mask, eh? What did it look like?” Madara’s questions are really starting to concern me. There must be a lot more going on than I thought…

Madara’s power really does protect me…

Naruto chuckles. “I get it. I understand now. It seems the man who pumped drugs into the veins of the world is afraid of his ‘rehabilitation’. So Madara, do you know that masked man as well? Because other than what his mask looks like, I know absolutely nothing about him.”

“Then tell me what it looks like. As a profiler, I know your memory is quite good. And you all have eyes like hawks. Even in the dark, you could probably tell me his eye color.”

“The mask was bright orange and was spiraled. The spiral stopped over his right eye. And as for his eye color; if I wasn’t so sure about it, I would doubt my own perception of it. His eyes were red. We were in a lit environment and I could see them clearly. To be fair, they looked like yours.”

Madara smiles. “Don’t lie to me.”

Naruto’s brow knits. “I’m not lying. I have nothing to gain by lying.”

Uncle is silent and he holds up the remote, turning it up all the way and throwing it onto the bed next to Naruto’s writhing body. “Time to claim your reward…”

I watch as Madara leave, silently closing the door behind him. Having him storm off like that really worries me but at the same time, I know now is not the time to be following after him. Everything will be revealed in due time.

“S-Sas-uke.” Naruto moans my name and his fingers curl against the ropes. I cannot ignore the weak and helpless, now can I? I lean over Naruto and watch his darkened eyes scanning my face and body. He licks his lips and his eyes lock with mine. His lips pucker slightly and I get closer to him, teasing by moving slowly, ghosting kisses against his eyelids and cheeks, avoiding where I know he wants me to kiss him. I take a soft bite at his neck and his back arches painfully. His body is so sensitive to pain, it’s almost unreal.

My hands are all over him, touching his skin, feeling him shiver and react to the softness of touch. His cock looks like it’s about to burst, the head is read and angry. Naruto must be forcing himself to hold back. That’s no good for anyone.

“What do you want me to do?” I whisper, not knowing how gently and soothing my voice could be. I pull the toy straight out of him and he looks relieved. He's breathing so hard and his body is so flushed. He must be having a hard time keeping his thoughts straight. I don’t even know how he made it through that interrogation with that thing inside of him…

“Put it in. I don’t need anything else. I want to feel your heat inside me.” I smirk at his comment, getting farther up on the bed.

Since his arms are pinned down by rope, he really is at my mercy completely. “I can tell you’re aching to touch me, so I’ll indulge you.” I settle myself by straddling his chest. His fingers are pressing harshly into the rope as he glares me down. He already knows that just because he’ll get to touch me, doesn’t mean I’ll free him. I unbutton my jeans and quickly pop out my erection. The tips is leaking, ever so slightly. I’ve been wanting to do this all night and now it’s nearly four in the morning. I’ve done my waiting. My impatience is finally getting the better of me. “Say ‘ah’. It’ll be rough on you if I’m not slick and ready to go, you know?”

Naruto smirks and opens his mouth obediently. It's a tight fit. As soon as I stick the tip past his teeth, his lips come down around me, creating a seal of skin. As I thought, the blood rushing around his body makes his lips hot and plump. They’re still bruised slight from kissing so I know they’ll be especially sensitive. He moans as I pull back slightly and then give a harsh thrust forward, hitting the back of his throat. The angle of this is awkward and I pull out all the way so we can reposition. I stack all my pillows under his neck and try again. The second attempt seems far more fruitful.

His tongue can’t keep up with my thrusts and its everywhere on my cock. Feeling up the veins underneath, teasing the head, and even just lying flat on the bottom of his mouth giving me a smooth texture to enjoy. This mouth was too perfect.

I wish I could properly mouth-fuck him. I want to grab a fist-full of those blond locks and shove his head down as far as it would go but he needs to be untied for that. And as tempting as it is, I like the control over him, I like him being obediently still and waiting for the pleasure I can bring him.

His teeth ghost on the underside of my cock and I have to hold back a shudder. He’s getting testy and impatient with me. It’s so cute. I pull out of his mouth and a long string of saliva hangs from his mouth as he smiles up at me. “Untie me, Sasuke.”

I smile back at him and his eyes shine with unshielded desire. I shake my head. “And what will I get if I untie you?” I reach back, shoving three fingers inside of Naruto, which makes his entire body jump. “It’s fun like this, right?”

“For you, maybe, but I wanna play too!” Naruto whines at me but instantly purrs when I twist my fingers and curl them inside of him. “I want to wrap my legs around you, digs my nails into your back, I wanna give you kisses, and touch you all over. You’re so beautiful, Sasuke. Please untie me. I want to please you, so much.”

Heat rushes into my face and then drains away from any cranial region, going down and filling my stomach with already peaking arousal. I immediately pull my fingers out, causing him to shudder underneath me. I reach over the side of my bed, digging underneath the mattress. Naruto’s anticipatory panting is making my cock swell to painful proportions. I pull out the safety knife Itachi makes me keep under there and bring it down into the rope, right above where Naruto’s wrists are tied together.

Naruto’s pupils are wide with shock and arousal, his breathing still harsh. He pulls and the rope starts to break apart. I move so that I’m between his still bound legs. His right arm pulls away but is still wrapped with rope. I like watching him struggle. It’s like watching a bug in the spider web. We both know he’s about to be devoured but he still struggles and wiggles all the same. I push down his hips with my hands and he gasps, feeling as I move closer to his lower half.

Naruto pushes the rope against the knife and starts to shred it. He’s desperate to free himself. He’s desperate to touch me. Blood bursts from his right arm and I hear him make a small noise of disapproval. It’s a small trickle but still, a wound is a wound. It is a weakness. I lean forward, grabbing the bleeding arm and pulling it towards me. I lick the blood and stare down at him. His eyes are burning with annoyance and arousal but there is a little bit of something else. “Don’t be afraid of me, Naruto. I won’t kill you.”

“You really know how to reassure a man…” Naruto mutters. “Mind giving me a hand? Madara’s rope tying skills are very annoying.”

I take the knife from the bed post and his eyes are on me. He knows very well that I could kill him. But I would never do that. He’s too fascinating like this. Completely at my mercy yet still struggling and trusting that I’ll be good to him and keep my word. It’s beautiful; just how much will Naruto allow himself to trust me, I wonder? Maybe, I don’t really want to know the answer to that question.

I quickly push myself into Naruto and he nearly shrieks as I fill him up. “F-fuck.” As I thrust slowly, I cut the ropes, one by one, until I’m at a thrusting speed that is nearly too slow but too fast at the same time for him. He’s shuddering, and I can tell he wishes he could wrap his legs around my waist, to slow me down and prevent me from moving so much. He doesn’t want me to tease because even that, right now, is enough to drive him over the edge. But I won’t free his legs just yet. I want some control over him. I toss the knife lazily and it embeds itself into the wall behind us. No use for it now.  

His arms, finally out of the rope, wrap themselves around my neck and he pulls himself up, forcing me off my knees and back onto my heels, so that’s he’s practically sitting on my lap. He moans against the side of my mouth as his head brushes against mine. He meant to go in for a kiss but I gave him a particularly hard thrust and he didn’t quite make it. I can feel the warmth of his orgasm on my stomach. This encounter is going to be sticky and hot, but it will be wonderful.

When his lips press into mine, it feels amazing. I’ve never kissed anyone who gave me goose bumps before. Naruto moans into my mouth as our bodies synchronize, moving together, or I guess moving as much as Naruto can since he his legs are still tied up.

His body is slowing. I can tell he’s exhausted. His body is practically empty by now. But he’s still going. To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t passed out.

I press him down as I move up and his back arches. I can feel his nails in my shoulders and the breaking of my skin but I can’t help but keep attacking that spot within him, making him claw me more, and more. He’s bled for me already, and I’ll bleed for him too. He moves his hand and rests his head against one of my injured shoulders, lapping at the small trickle of blood he created. “I’m sorry.” He mutters it against my flesh and continues to lick and licks, cleaning me of the redness that stains my pale skin. This kind of thing, it’s very intimate. Our bodies are so close, intermingling, and we’re sharing fluids of all kinds. It’s strange having someone who is so comfortable with all of this.

“Sasuke, please untie my legs. If we keep doing it like this, my hips will break.”

The way he says my name really hits deeply inside of me. I don’t know why. It’s like he’s whispering a prayer. I must comply with his wish. I can control him in different ways. I push us back and reach out, grabbing the knife. With a gentle pull it comes free and I turn it in my hand. With a knife, I am infinitely powerful. It is how I trained, it is an extension of my arm.

I cut the rope from the posts and then slice it from his knees. I pull out of him for a moment so he can finally move his body after such a long time being immobile, tossing the knife onto the side table. It nearly shatters my lamp but I don’t care.

He moans just from the relief. There are angry rope dents all over his arms and down his legs. But he seems appreciative of me. I’ll need to fix that. I move to stand up and Naruto crawls towards the edge, sprawling back so he’s laying against the bed, face up. He must know what I want to do because he wraps his arms around me as I grab him from under his thighs, pulling him up and against me.

“You’re stronger than I expected.” Naruto comments as I bend into his body, repositioning myself into his hole. It’s hot inside of him and as soon as I enter, he screams, releasing yet another orgasm. This angle is much better and I can thrust right into him with ease. I just hope my muscles have enough blood to keep this position. “Sasuke, I don’t know how much more I can stand…” His voice is breathy and the words are choppy with how much he’s panting but I need to keep going. I haven’t cum once yet. I’ll make love to him until he can’t take it a moment longer.

I put my leg up against my bed to spring into a better momentum and just thrust as hard and as much as I can, moving his body up and down in time with my hips. His legs are wound tightly around my waist as he arches his back, pushing himself away from my chest as the pleasure builds up to epic amounts. I almost cum at the feeling. The heat and strain is harsh in my gut but I’m not done yet. I want to keep going.

I can feel him very deeply in this position, the way he tightens up, the sheer wetness of his walls and just how hot they are when I’m fully embedded inside of them. “Oh, fuck you!” He breathes out and continues to chant it, breaking it up with loud, powerful moans. He returns to me, chest to chest, and slumps his head against my shoulder, biting and kissing at my neck. It will be covered it bruises, no doubt. But it feels good.

I move away from my bed and push him against the wall of my room. I squish him tightly against the wall and my upper body to brace him and take away some of the weight, and then using my leg against the wall to support his lower body as I push my hands into the wall to give my arms a break. I hear the cracking of plaster and know that maybe my efforts are a little too overzealous. Naruto’s throaty laughter fills my ears and I glace sideways at him. He’s smiling at me. “Did you really just break the wall?”

I smile back. “Maybe just a little. I don’t care though, you’re worth a little strain muscle and wall repair.” I pull a hand back and use it to support the blond’s body more. It would be more than embarrassing to drop him now.

“I like you so much, Sasuke. You really are the best.” He’s laughing and moaning and panting in my ear. I never thought I could be so attracted to someone I’ve just met. His fall from my graces will be legendary.

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” I continue to move inside him and I feel the pressure of my orgasm, still suppressed in my body. Naruto’s body is pressing more into mine, trying to break my orgasm free from the cage I’ve place it in but I want him to cum once more and then, I’ll let mine come as well.

“Sasuke, I’m close. Keep fucking…” He can’t even finish. Naruto’s breathe hitches loudly and I can feel his tense up as yet another orgasm floods out of him. His eyes are streaming with tears this time and I finally allow myself to release, my muscles twitching and slowly starting to lose all their strength. Quickly, I move us down to the floor so he’s sitting on my crouched, spread legs. I pull out and feel cum dripping out of him. He’s twitching from the feeling, his orgasm still leaking from him as well. “No more…”

This time, I’ll give him that request. My muscles are yelling at me from overexertion. Today I was a little too bold with our lovemaking. But I’ll keep this as a reminder of what I’m truly capable of. “Can you stand?”

He doesn’t respond and when I look up, I realize it’s because he’s already fallen asleep. I use the last of my strength to carry us to the bed, dropping him unceremoniously. I’ll clean myself up later. I’m far to ready for sleep. I get in the bed next to Naruto, throwing so of the rope out of my blankets and pull him into me, holding his very exhausted body next to mine.

Next time, I’ll remember to stretch first. I’m gunna be sore tomorrow…  
  


 

 


	4. chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto finds himself in an awkward position; not having sufficient information for Madara, and unable to crack a mysterious note given to him, he needs to make one, very desperate, phone call.

It’s really awkward to walk in on two people in the midst of pillow-talk. It is even more awkward to wake up when two people are in the midst of pillow-talk and one of them wasn’t involved in the actions before pillow-talk. I roll to my side, seeing Sasuke and Itachi embracing each other. Itachi is stroking Sasuke’s hair, speaking softly to him. In my sleep coated brain, I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but now it is clear.

“Don’t worry about it, Sasuke.” Itachi mutters in a very sweet, comforting way. “Uncle knows what he's doing. Besides, Naruto is here, isn’t he? Madara is going to fully utilize that skill of his.”

“Itachi, you didn’t see his face. I’ve never seen Uncle like that.” Sasuke says quietly, it is a little muffled by him pulling the blanket up a little farther. “I have a bad feeling.”

Itachi nods his head, pulling his brother even closer, nuzzling into his hair with his nose. He sighs, finger tracing the back of Sasuke’s scalp. The sunlight is bright through Sasuke’s bedroom window, encasing the Uchihas in its glow. I feel as though none of us deserve the shine of the sun on our skin. We were all soaked in our sins; skins too pale and weak to accept the slightest rays. The night is my usual companion, shadowing me from the purity I once had. It has been a great deal of time since I have existed in the places where the light could reach me.  

I sit up. My head and back ache furiously. I send a soft glare to the spiked head of Sasuke, who rolls, pressing his back into Itachi’s body. The older Uchiha is still petting Sasuke, like he was nothing more than a large cat. His face looks tired, small, dark bags under his eyes. I glance over at the clock, noting it was well past noon. I woke up early, even for me. I appreciated getting at least twelve hours. I sigh, looking around the room. I am in serious need of a shower and a cigarette.

“Good morning.” Sasuke’s muffled voice greets. I lean over him, giving him a small kiss on the temple. “Bathroom’s open if you want to take a shower.” Itachi wraps his arm over Sasuke protectively. We share a glance.

“It’s well past noon, Otouto.” Itachi teases, gently poking Sasuke in the forehead. He mumbles softly before shooing the hand away from him.

“Good afternoon, then.” Sasuke corrects himself. “Don’t tease me Itachi-nii, it’s still early.”

Sasuke is adorable. Everything about him. The way he has the blanket over his face, the smallness of his sleepy voice, the way he greeted me. I just want to pull him up into my arms of hold him until time decided to stop spinning the world.

“Where did you put my clothes?” I question, my fingers reaching out to rub small circles in Sasuke’s hair. He stirs more, eyes opening wider.

“They’re in the wash.” Sasuke says. “Kisame got blood all over your shirt and jacket when he knocked you out.” I make an annoyed noise in the back of my throat, making Itachi smirk. “Just grab something from my closet. Your cigarettes are in the kitchen.” Sasuke rolls back into Itachi’s body, causing a softer look to grace Itachi’s usually cold countenance.

As much as I’d love to just lay in Sasuke’s bed with him all day, I get up, against my body’s protest. I stretch, hearing my back pop in places it shouldn’t. Sasuke should take it easy on me next time. Though, I didn’t doubt he was hurting. I glance over to where his hand prints were still easily noticeable in the cracked plaster. So strong, so powerful, and so unbelievably deadly. I didn’t know why I was still here.

I shuffle some of the stuff in Sasuke’s closet, just grabbing a pair of shorts for now. A cigarette and a shower was all I needed for now. And when I got my clothes back, I’d worry about the rest of what would happen to me.

The back of my mind was warning me about staying too long here. But I knew, Madara was a greedy man, he wouldn’t let me go now that he had me. Monopoly was his game, and now that I was here, tangled in a web of seduction, he could monopolize me all he wanted.

And, as much as my existence screamed at me for it, I didn’t know if I could leave Sasuke now. I wanted to know more about him, let his existence wash over me and cloud me with everything he knows, everything he wants, and everything that he is and is going to be.

I walk out of Sasuke’s room, noting how much my back aches when I jumble down the stairs. As I step into the kitchen, I notice Kisame sitting at the marbled island, reading the paper. If I hadn’t known better, Sasuke’s life would have seemed so normal. And as much as I wanted to be ignorant and live a life where I could escape everything I’d ever seen or done, it was impossible. My life gave me knowledge, it gave me insight. A fool would believe Sasuke’s life to be normal. I knew better, however. Kisame wasn’t just some man in his kitchen. He was an assassin, a man with hands caked in blood.

I grab my cigarettes off the counter, Kisame taking a few nervous glances over at me. For now, I’d let him sweat my presence, especially since he was the one who knocked me out. But, as I knew, I could use guilt like that to sustain my ever-lasting quest for knowledge. Kisame would cooperate if I needed him to.

“Hello, Kisame.” I say as I walk past him, on my way to the front door. I hear his paper shuffling from the start I gave him. This was going to be fun.

There’s a soft click behind me as I settle down on the concrete stairs in front of Sasuke’s house. The door is shut and I am cut off from the truth inside that house. I always wondered whether I’d be caught by someone I had known. People know my face and I know some have been asking around for me. Though, no one had ever known my real name. Ambiguity had always been my guise. I guess, though, I thought it would have been Hashirama who would have dragged me back but Madara’s face was always there, in the back of my head. 

My eyes span the scene in front of me. This neighborhood is huge, but also quiet. And I suppose I should have expected it. There was no way Madara would let his hidden treasure live in a neighborhood as shitty as mine.  It is strange to think about. The Madara I had known was a selfish, greedy man. He cared nothing for his underlings and cast them aside when they failed him. But even the hardest men had their weaknesses, at heart.

I hit the bottom of my pack, pushing a cancer stick to the surface. I pull it out, touching my pockets, immediately realizing that these aren’t my clothes. I sigh, exasperatingly. Of course. I get back up on my feet when the door opens behind me, Madara stepping out. He has a pack of cigarettes in his hand. We exchange a look, him spying the cigarette in my hand. “You shouldn't do that.” He’s smirking at me.

“I don’t suppose I can bum a light?”

“Bringing yourself closer to the funeral home doesn’t bother me much.” He puts a cigarette between his lips, the paper of it is dark, nearly black. He flicks the lighter to life between us. I lean into the flame, taking a deep breath of smoke. We both sigh it out, creating a small cloud between us. His smoke smells heavy and sweet with clove.

Together, we sit next to each other on the steps. It’s weird being here with Madara. I would have never thought he could be here, calm, nearly silent with contemplation. He flicks as an ash with long, pale, fingers. “I suppose, I owe you an explanation.”

I glance over at him, tapping my fingers against white paper. “I’m surprised you’re willing to offer me that.”

“I hate to admit it,” Madara mutters against the filter. “I need you. I’ve tried a few, different Jinchuuriki but you were the one who knew everything. Not to mention, willing to cooperate.” The smoke drifts from between his pale, red lips. “But even then, you need to know what I know to be of any further use.”

“So, tell me. What do I need to know, Madara?” I look over at him and he sighs, taking another long drag.

“A few months back, there was an attempt on my life. Not something too atypical. Single gunman, one bullet, immediate retreat upon failure.” Madara begins. “However, they knew where the Akatsuki hideout was. Only certain people are privy to that kind of information. And most of those people know, giving out something that sensitive, means dealing with me and anything that I can cook up when I find out. And I always find out.” His eyes harden as he glares down at the concrete. “Now that I know Konan was a plant, I feel kind of bad for breaking a few fingers.”

“Fingers?” I scoff and he just smirks.

“Skulls, fingers…They’re both bone.” He is a wicked man. “Anyway, the assassin’s identity remained a mystery for about a month until another attempt was taken…That time though, I saw his face. I started poking around and came up with the name; Nagato. Problem was, everyone said he was dead. So, I started looking for the man who supposedly killed him, leading me back to you. I knew then I needed to find you.” Madara shoves a hand into his pocket. “But I also know who hired him to get me. His name is Obito; the man in the mask. You’ve confirmed it.” I feel a chill up my back. “He’s also an Uchiha, one the family spurned. No one knows where he is though. Not that I keep in contact with much of the family anyway. Sasuke and Itachi are my only ties to the Uchiha blood.” He pulls his hand out his pocket and sets a folded note on my lap. I flip it open. “Normally, I wouldn’t do this. I fear you knowing too much, however, I’m willing to make an exception given your particular set of skills.”

_“As the raven screeches above the open world; rats flee from sight. Gripping, clinging onto a life which they will waste. An experienced hunter sees the weak, black wings ghosted against the sun. Unimaginable is suffering to that which possesses a brain so small. Youth and fertility is all it knows; greed and lust. Killing blows are all a real raven knows before sinking into shadows.”_

The note itself is cryptic, but the look of it, incredibly cliché. It seriously seemed like they ripped off whatever bad kidnapping movie that had been on TV the night they wrote it. But what was weird was that it had been printed that way. It wasn’t a bunch of jumbled news and magazine clippings glued onto paper, letter by letter. My fingers brushed the page. Perhaps that way it would seem more planted? What exactly was this person’s MO? What did they want from Madara, besides him dead? There had to be more. But if Madara didn’t know, or wasn’t about to go into deep state secrets, I would only be able to speculate.

“Anything, Naruto?”

I shove my cigarette in my lips, looking over the page multiple times. A large pile of ash falls on my leg and I finally tear my eyes away from the words. Madara is flicking his cigarette butt into the grass, eyes taking small glances at me. I follow his motions, unable to do much else. I bite down on my lip, chewing it.

“Is there anything else you can give me that can help me pull the pieces together? Anything on Nagato or that Obito guy? Habits, personality traits, where they hung out, who they hung out with, family backgrounds…?” I know I was reaching but Madara may have something locked away in that mental safe of his. “Don’t make me grasp at straw, Madara. If I do that, I may have to make a few phone calls. And they may not be Uchiha approved.”

Madara raises his eyebrow at me. “You still runnin’ with the cops, kid?”

“Only when it’s convenient for them.” Treacherous waters were ahead if I continue to speak to him about this. I couldn’t let him in. Couldn’t let him find out. I would be flayed on Sasuke’s counter in a heartbeat. “I have a plant; keeps me updated. In case I need to clear out, ya get me? But we all know cooperation is a somewhat two ways street. He feeds me info in exchange for assistance. The police are too stupid, and the bureau too.”

Madara laughs, shaking his head. “Looks like we’re all in too deep, huh?”

“Never stopped me from disappearing before. If I ever needed to, I could be gone. Just like before. That plant keeps me safe.”

His eyes are full of suspicious as they take in my own. “You better not suddenly disappear on me, Kyuubi.”

“Uzumaki.” I correct. “Uzumaki Naruto. Remember, kay? It may be the only real pieces of my past you can get from me.”

“Sure, kid.” Madara says, standing up. “Let’s head back in. I’ll fill you in as much as I can.” I stand up and Madara pauses, reaching into his pocket. “Oh, I almost forgot.” His hand resurfaces and I can feel the treacherous waters lapping up on the shores. They’re already reaching me. “Here’s your phone; it went off quite a lot before dying. Lotsa missed calls from a man named Sai.”

My body is submerged in ice, spreading through my veins, into my muscles, along my spine, building up in my gut as Madara hands me the small device. I straighten up as I feel the heated plastic in my fingers. It was warm from his pocket. “Thanks. I know you didn’t have to give me this.”

“Of course. I know how you kids are with your technology these days.”

He gets up, shoving his package of cigarettes into the pocket of his jacket. I shudder, the wind finally picking up. He steps up to the door, his hand reaching for the bronze knobs. His fingers are long, delicate; they are the perfect hands to strangle someone with. They are thin, gentle-looking, as if they couldn’t snap the neck of a bird. But I knew what those hands had been stained with, and we all just wished it was the blood of animals.

“Oh and Naruto…?” I glance at Madara, keeping the panic off my face. If I can let the water take one thing, let it take my feelings, let it rip away and drown them somewhere where they cannot betray me. Madara cannot know. He’ll keep me around but it’ll only be a matter of time. Sasuke won’t be able to save me.

“Yes?”

Madara puts a hand on my shoulder, spinning me around. “Thank you for helping me.”

I smile, forcing my lips not to quiver. “My never ending quest is one of knowledge. I want to know the world, Madara.”

“Knowledge is power, Naruto. And isn’t that all we’ve ever wanted? From the moment Prometheus gave the mud creatures fire, we have been hungry, crawling through our own waste, through the blood and guts of others just to say we are the most knowledgeable, the most powerful. That we are stronger than the gods…”

Watching and waiting has always been a game I was never quite good at. But, if I step incorrectly, falter in a single movement, let them know what I’ve done…The den of the Uchiha lions will come after me. The Uchiha manor will become my personal sepulcher; the mausoleum of my secrets and betrayal. Sasuke and his family will rip apart my skin, rending it from the bones…

I refuse to wash out.  
\--  
 **Sasuke’s PV (starts before Naruto wakes up)**

I stir immediately as I feel weight shifting behind me. I moan, rubbing my eyes on the back of my hand. I pull the blanket higher over my head, to block out the sun, and the ache of the world around me. The comfort of his hand is immediate, small circles rubbing into my spine. I know it’s Itachi. He must not be too pleased about the intruder in my bed but to be fair, it is my bed, not his. He’s an intruder too. It’s not my fault he chooses to sleep here. I roll towards him; he opens his arms to accommodate me. He’s looking over my head, eyes predatory in nature. “No,” I mutter, pushing on his cheek.

He grabs my hand, putting it back down at my side. I cuddle closer to him, nuzzling my face into his chest. He pushes me back towards Naruto, giving himself more room on the bed. I know it’s not the biggest bed in the world but still, he needs to stop being so pushy. I whine and he nuzzles me, finally laying down and settling in. I move even closer to him, head pressing into his chest as my arms wrap around him. His fingers are pressing against my scalp, circling and drawing in the spaces between follicles on my scalp. It makes me sigh with content.

“Are you still naked?” His words are barely above a whisper and I stare at him at a moment before nodding. He makes a face.

“What? It’s my bed. You knew what he and I were going to do.” I reply, making Itachi seem even more unamused. I smirk. “You finished your assignment quickly.”

“Hn.” Itachi’s hand pauses in my hair. “It was simple enough. I also brought you back a present.” My skin begins to itch at the thought. I’d been ignoring my craving all last night but now it was there, pulling my flesh too tightly too my bones, wrapping the hands of need around my throat. I whimper and Itachi pulls me close. “I made sure it was a good one.” He kisses my temple lightly.

Apprehension fills me, its snakes leaping from the darkness to seize the depths of my heart. I shudder and Itachi’s eyes are upon me; I can feel his gaze. Madara had divulged secrets to Naruto and myself, letting me in deeper to the world he saved me from. It made me fearful. Madara is my uncle, my family. I feel strongly worried. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had ever tried to kill him; I know that for certain. No doubts about it, not many could stomach Uncle. We all know it. But this time is obviously different. If he needs a professional profiler to give him answers, that meant he couldn’t figure it out for himself. There were pieces and loose ends fluttering around carelessly, eluding Madara’s grasp.

And that's what frightens me most. The man who bought and sold the sin of the world can’t stop his own extinction. Caught in a web of his own demise, spiraling outward into the unknown.

My fingers shake as I reach up, gripping the material of Itachi’s shirt with them.“Itachi, someone’s trying to kill Madara.” I mutter into his clothed chest.

“What else is new?” Itachi snorts, hand starting to move against my scalp again.

“It’s not normal this time…” My voice sounds small, still slightly cracked with sleep. “He needed Naruto’s information which means he couldn’t figure out something by himself.”

Itachi stills against me, hands and body seeming to not move. He is thinking, the pensiveness of his face revealing all. Itachi only showed these things to me. I sometimes feel sorry for everyone else. They never got to see Itachi as he is. But this part of Itachi is exclusively mine. I didn’t like to share. And I refuse to share this part with Madara, especially. 

I hear Naruto moving around next to me, obviously slowly starting to wake up.

“Don’t worry about it, Sasuke.” Itachi mutters, pulling my attention away from the blond on my other side. There’s a soft hint of jealousy that grabs my attention so quickly. “Uncle knows what he is doing. Besides, Naruto is here, isn’t he? Madara is going to fully utilize that skill of his.”

“Itachi, you didn’t see his face. I’ve never seen Uncle like that.” I says quietly, shuffling the blanket around my face. “I have a bad feeling.”

Itachi nods his head, pulling me even closer, nuzzling into my hair with his nose. It feels good. It always feels good when Itachi comforts me. His touch is like fire and ice, burning my worry to ash but cooling my blazing heart. He sighs, finger tracing the back of my scalp. He also knows now that Naruto is awake; blue eyes squinting from the light of the sun. I can see him through my peripherals, he looks wrecked. Though, I was none too gentle last night. No one had been particularly nice to him, in retrospect. I smirk a little.

He sits up, swearing softly under his breath. He must be aching. I must be truly evil if I enjoy his suffering, even if it was just a little bit. I can feel his stare on me and I roll over to face him. Itachi makes a soft sound of annoyance in his throat, I doubt Naruto could hear it. He’s still petting me. Naruto’s face looks blank with contemplation. He probably wants a shower and a cigarette; humans were creatures of habit and Naruto was included in that.

“Good morning.” I sound more muffled and tired than I feel. He lean over me, planting the flower of a kiss against the small portion of exposed skin I offer to the sun. “Bathroom’s open if you want to take a shower.” Itachi wraps his arm over me, possessiveness is in the touch.

“It’s well past noon, Otouto.” Itachi teases, gently poking me in the forehead. I paw at his hand weakly, moaning with unamused words.

“Good afternoon, then.” I correct, sending a small glance Itachi’s way. I hear the chuckle in this throat. “Don’t tease me Itachi-nii, it’s still early.”

Naruto is smiling at me and my heart feels strange in my chest. Those blue orbs shine as they look at me. It looks like affection, ardor, and all the emotions in between. In the strong rays of the sun, he looks like my Apollo; blond hair, messy and beautiful as it frames the soft tan skin of his face. It's a halo around his head though we both know he is neither angel nor close to godliness.

“Where did you put my clothes?” he asks, fingers reaching out to rub small circles in my hair. His touch brings some of my sinful emotions to the surface. I already want him again.

“They’re in the wash.” I say, the blanket hiding my amused quirking mouth. “Kisame got blood all over your shirt and jacket when knocked you out.” He looks displeased with this information, a soft noise pushing past his lips. It is in Itachi and I’s more devious nature to smirk at his misfortune. “Just grab something from my closet.” I offer, feeling a possess urge in my stomach. Naruto’s body wearing my clothes is just a sign of my ownership. That he’s mine. “Your cigarettes are in the kitchen.” I roll over again, back into Itachi’s snug embrace. I can feel his satisfaction leaking from him. Such a possessive, stingy creature my brother is. He never liked to share me with anyone, even family. Him and Naruto having to share my affection, especially since Naruto gets special perks he can’t, must drive Itachi insane.

Naruto’s body is bruised, touched with the mars of our lovemaking. I don’t doubt his hips are dented with my fingers prints. His wrists and his legs, especially, from where they had been bound. He unconsciously rubs the sore spots as he walks into my closet, reappearing after a second or two.

Itachi glares as Naruto disappears through my doorway, heading downstairs. I scoot towards the middle of the bed, letting Itachi have more room. I almost hope that it’ll be Itachi’s misfortune to lay in leftovers of our passion. I smirk a little as he continues to watch the door, still glaring. “Be civil, Aniki.”

Itachi scoffs, muttering annoyed words under his breath. “No.”

“Stingy.” I say against his chest.

He laughs softly. “Anyway, back to what you were saying.”

I look up at Itachi from the small corner of the blanket, still over my face. I pull it down slightly, sighing. “I was saying, I was worried before you brushed it off. If Madara needs Naruto, it must be pretty serious, right?”

“Not necessarily.” Itachi replies, soothing me. “Madara has employed the help of profilers before. Naruto is the best we could have found, but he probably had some information Madara did not.”

“Yeah…” I sit up slightly, my back against the headboard. There was still rope tied around the posts and I hold back my smirk. 

I wonder just how much Itachi really knows about what’s going on. Sure, he and Madara share blood, but sometimes, I really thought they would kill each other. They only saw eye to eye on certain issues, usually pertaining to me, but other than that, they’d always butt heads. But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Itachi…Do you know anything about a man who wears an orange mask?”

Itachi freezes, whether he thinks I didn’t see, I wasn’t sure, but I know. My eyes narrow as he lets out a long sigh. “Well, things are obviously more complicated than I thought.” Itachi muses, rolling so he’s lying face up, staring at the ceiling.

“What do you mean?”

Itachi sighs, rubbing his face with his hands. “The man in the orange mask is also an Uchiha. His name is Obito; I’ve only met him once. He was practically shunned from the family. Just like Madara. Only, Uncle doesn’t particularly like him either. They used to be in business together but Obito and Madara had different ideals. He tried to kill Madara himself, once. And ever since then he’s been on the lam.” He sets his arms down at his sides. “If Obito has anything to do with this, Naruto should be able to track him. Naruto managed to find me, after all. I wouldn’t worry; Madara will give Naruto anything he needs to find Obito.”

I sigh, getting up from the bed, throwing my blanket over Itachi’s face in the process. He makes a disgusted sound in his throat as he pulls it off of him. He glares at me. I shrug as I step into my closet, grabbing a pair of shorts and a black white beater. When I step back out, Itachi is holding the remote vibrator in his hand, mouth open slightly with revulsion. I bite my lip to keep from laughing. “What, exactly, Sasuke, did you do to that poor child?”

“Hey, that’s not mine. It’s Uncle’s. He’s the real pervert in all this, not me.” I defend, but only slightly. I did let this get carried out in my room, on my bed, with my body. And I loved it. Every second. Every thrust. Each moan reverberated through my body, licking my soul with the passionate flames.

Itachi got out of my bed. “You’re forcing me to sleep with Kisame, you know that?”

“Itachi, there’s an entirely empty room down the hall from this one. You can have that one.”

He scoffs at me, heading towards the door. I follow after him, thumping down the stairs. I doubt Itachi has slept but I know he’ll refuse to do so until I’ve cleaned the sheets up. He also probably won’t sleep if Naruto is still here. He doesn’t like to share his bed partner much and Naruto did have the pleasure of my company all last night. He must have been so mad to see Naruto in the bed this morning. He probably made the funniest face.

Naruto is looking something over as he sits at the kitchen island. He hasn’t bothered to change yet or shower and seems almost consumed with whatever he was staring at. I lean over his shoulder and he makes a soft noise in his throat. He turns his head upwards, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.

Kisame returns from somewhere, handing Naruto a paper and a pen. “Here ya go, kid.” Naruto mumbles his thanks, a bright smile gracing his features. Kisame is obviously disarmed by the sudden kindness. Itachi is muttering something as he glances over his shoulder at us. He is obvious displeased.

“What are you doing?” I ask, Naruto doesn’t look up but mumbles something like ‘working’. His hands are moving fast, writing down words, rearranging and dissecting them. Anagrams…? I lean closer, watching as the pen stops in his hands. He’s frowning but continues to scribble after a second.

“Don’t bother him right now, Sasuke.” Kisame warns, waving his hand at me. “He’s helping Madara with something.”

I nod, knowing it has something to do with what was discussed last night. Madara must have needed Naruto badly if he already had him working on something. Or maybe he just didn’t know how to put everything together. Naruto obviously knows a lot of tricks. He had to be the best for a reason.

Itachi sits down across from Naruto, another bowl of oatmeal in hand. I feel an edge of anger pulse in my blood.

“Itachi, what’s that?” I ask, innocence of my tone betrayed by my face.

He looks up from the bowl, spoon full of mushy oats. He smirks. “Well…This is certainly awkward.”

“What have I said?” My eyebrow is twitching as I try to keep my face steady.

Itachi leans back in his chair, a pensive, thinking look coming over his features. “I do believe our last conversation in told that you were going to stab me if I continued to eat your oatmeal.” Itachi presses his fingers together, pointing both hands towards me. “Though, I’m still alive.”  

I walk from Naruto to my brother; my blond is watching us. Blue eyes sparkling with amusement. Kisame is sitting next to Itachi, shaking his head. I loom over him, digging my elbows into both of his shoulders. Itachi reaches up grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. I slid, losing my balance and crushing my body into Itachi’s back. He lets out a hard breath as his ribs press hard against the marble. Itachi’s hands grip around my neck, pulling me closer to him. He wraps his arm around the back of my neck, holding my head in place. I struggle, punching his back, pushing him farther forward. Itachi uses his free hand to grab the spoon. Oh god, no. I try to pull my head back. I can already smell the maple syrup and sugar sticking to the oats.

“NO!” I can tell Itachi’s smirking as the spoon brushes against my lips. Kisame and Naruto are just staring, obviously too amused or afraid of Itachi to help me. I know Itachi will shove that spoon into my mouth without a single hint of remorse. I need to play dirty.

My hand is moving frantically around his back and I feel the silk of his hair. I wrap my fist in it, giving it a hard pull. Itachi gasps, his head thrown back as the spoon retreats. “Let go, Otouto!” Itachi’s fingers find my face, prying my lips open as the spoon makes another appearance. I can’t even shake my head away as it slowly starts to push into my mouth, clacking against my teeth.

“What are you two doing?” Madara asks, his footfalls loud on the tile. Itachi uses this distraction to shove in the spoon in, nearly gagging me with it. I pull his hair even harder. He releases my head to attempt to grab me differently but Madara immediately grabs my arm, pulling me away from Itachi. Aniki's eyes look downright murderous, as though I might get a nasty surprise later tonight. I stick my tongue out at him. Madara grabs onto my chin, shaking my face in his grip as if to punish me. His grip on my jaw starts to sting and he releases me, walking up to Itachi, sighing. “Itachi, you’re twenty eight. You’re practically as old as I am. Start acting like it.”

“Madara, you’re twenty two years older than me.” Itachi replies, turning back to his oatmeal.

Madara walks up and yanks Itachi’s ponytail once before throwing it back into his face, effectively whipping it him with it. He makes an annoyed growl as Kisame and Naruto both simultaneously burst into laughter. Both of them laugh like they’d found the entire situation very, very funny. I didn’t think it was. That oatmeal was disgusting. And now it was coated all over my tongue.

“I thought I was gunna die if I held that in any longer.” Naruto wipes a tear out of his eye. His arm is wrapped around his stomach, holding it from pain. “Sasuke, your face was priceless. You were like 'huahhh!'” I watch, unamused, as Naruto tries to replicate my expression. Though, it might not have been too far off. Kisame howls with laughter, slamming his hands down onto the island.

Kisame nearly falls from his chair when he leans over the side. Itachi chuckles in his throat, looking over at him. He is wiping away his own tears when he stares back at Itachi, slowing composing himself. “Sorry, sorry. But Naruto was right, it was good. Oh man, I even cried.”

“So glad to keep you in such good spirits.” Itachi mutters, glowering at his partner.

I walk back to Naruto, looming over the back of his chair, grabbing him with my arms. He’s still laughing, now struggling a little. “No, I’m sorry.” Naruto laughs even more. I love his laughter. It’s husky and full; thick with his feelings of amusement. I pull him backwards, his legs kicking out as I tip him back. He’s still laughing as my lips press into his. His hands weave into my hair as he pulls me closer, causing the chair to tip back more.

I overestimate how far I tip him and we both have to scramble so he doesn’t fall out of his chair. He screams a little out of shock. The look on his face is of terror and exasperation. He kicks a glass on the counter, causing it to spill over. When I set the chair up right everyone is watching us. Itachi picks up his bowl, the glass still spilling water. Madara rolls his eyes.

“Mini-Uchiha, no party fouls.” Kisame says, shaking his head. I snort and Naruto picks up the paper in front of him. It’s dripping with water and a small, annoyed smile is on his lips.

“Nice one, Sasuke.” Madara sighs exasperatedly.

My jaws slackens. “Whatever, Naruto was the one who kicked the glass.”

“You tipped me! I got very scared.” Naruto laughs out his reply. He sets the paper back down. “But no one freak out, it’s just water. I mean the ink isn’t even running. We’re in the clear.”

“What is that, anyway?” Itachi asks, licking his spoon. He turns, going towards the sink, leaning over slightly as he pulls a hand towel from a drawer. He throws it to Naruto.

“Ask the looming old man.” Naruto replies, pressing the towel into the small mess. “Oh and by the way, Madara, I’m definitely going to need more than what you gave me.” Naruto looks annoyed as he slightly glares at Uncle.

“Kids are so pushy these days.” Madara mutters as he hands over a small file to Naruto. He slaps it down on counter when it’s dry enough. “No more complaining, I just had Hidan drop it off. That’s all the intelligence we have.” Uncle turns, looking at Itachi as he pets my spikes. I lean into his touch. “That note was left by my assassin, Nagato. Or it could have been Obito. Either way I'm having Naruto look over it, see if he can pick up anything.”

Itachi nods. “Kind of stupid to leave a note; he must think that would scare you.”

“It’s a pretty ominous note.” Naruto adds.

I forget that Itachi didn’t see the look on Madara’s face last night when he was interrogating Naruto. There was fear. But of course, Madara would never admit that. Why would he? Uncle was anything if not proud. I bite down on the inside of my lips as we share a glance. He moves away from me, coming to stand over Naruto, whose eyes are pouring through every inch of the documents.

It is weird to watch him. I’ve heard so much about Naruto being good at profiling but this is the first time I’ve seen him actually doing it. Actually looking through documents, eyes focused as they scan through words, picking them apart and putting them back together. But I can already tell there’s a problem. That file was small, probably only a few pages. Naruto makes an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue, swiveling around to look at Madara.

“You’re really going to make me call in favors, aren’t you?” Naruto whines. He huffs, throwing his arms across his chest. “I really thought if you wanted me to solve this, you’d have something substantial prepared.”

Itachi snorts a laugh at Naruto’s snippy comment.

Madara’s jaw clicks with annoyance. “You know, just because your under my protection right now does not mean I won’t slowly start breaking your fingers.”

**Naruto’s PV**

I really don't know what Madara expects out of me. For god’s sake, I am not psychic. It’s not like I can touch it and get some kind of giant mental picture of what’s supposed to be embedded in the words. I roll my eyes at his empty threat. Sasuke probably wouldn’t let Madara hurt me. But who knows, Sasuke seems to be stuck under Madara’s thumb, for whatever reason. I guess I’d never understand the bonds between real blood. 

Every word he gives me, ever piece of information, it doesn’t just add up into an epiphany. I have to slowly piece everything together and it’s not like this is so simple. This isn’t like dissecting a personality. I’d only seen Nagato a few times while I was hunting down the man who claimed to be him. And even then, I didn’t know how accurate everything was considering I still ended up killing the wrong person.

But if I killed the wrong person…Why did Hashirama confirm the kill?

My eyes narrow.

I glance over at Madara. “I’m going to need a phone charger.” I say suddenly, causing everyone to look at me strangely.

“Why?” Sasuke’s voice is quieter than I expect even though he’s standing right next to me. My eyes trace him. He is obviously concerned, not that he shows it in his face. He shows it very much in his posture.

I sigh heavily. I really don’t want to do this. “So I can call Hashirama.” I reply, looking around Sasuke to stare at Madara. His eyes immediately lighten up hearing the news.

“Sasuke, go get Naruto a charger.” Madara’s face is near elation and I almost want to tell him to calm down. “NOW!” Sasuke rolls his eyes but turns, heading upstairs.

I pull my phone out of my pocket. It had been so long since I resorted to this. Hashirama s probably the last person I wanted to call but Madara was really not leaving me a choice. Besides, I am the one burying myself. I am infinitely curious about the man who escaped me.

“Is it really a good idea to call Hashirama?” Kisame asks, looking at me from across the kitchen island.

“Probably not.” I mutter. “But he has some answers we don’t…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; it's a great idea.” Madara says smiling. A smile doesn't suit the seriousness Madara usually carries around with him. His face is too stern, too severe for one. It makes him almost look more menacing. And maybe that’s a little closer to the truth.

Sasuke comes back down, handing me the device. I lean behind me, plugging it into the wall and the other end into my phone. I guess I should be lucky it fits but I feel uneasy. Sasuke and Madara are right next to me while my livelihood and the coat of lies I’ve created lays, ready to use. I slid through my code and ignore the piling missed calls. Sai was certainly persistent last night.

I scroll through my contacts, my thumb hovering over his name. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to owe Hashirama anything. It had been two years since I had seen him. When I started to work for the police, he found me, tried to take me back. His determination had been frightening. And then I had to immediately disappear after that. He hasn’t found me since. I keep switching numbers, breaking phones, cutting ties with people, never letting people know my aliases or what I’ve done. I’ve been hiding from him for all this time and I know as soon as he hears my voice, he’ll try to call me back to him.  Showing him that I’m still here, seeking him out instead, because I need him; he’ll be suspicious of me.

“When you call,” Madara began, hunger in his eyes. “Put it on speaker. I want to hear what he tells you…”

I glance around the room. “Fine, but none of you can talk. If Hashirama hears a single one of you, I won’t be able to get anything out of him.”

I double tap his name and it starts to ring. I press the speaker button, chewing my lip. I am nervous, the blood pumping through my veins pounds in my ears. Sweat gathers up on the back of my neck, running slowly down. I didn’t want to hear his voice.

_“Yeah?”_

“That’s not a very good greeting for someone, Hashirama.” I say, my voice is lighter and more sensual than I want it to be. It makes Sasuke twitch where he stands. I can hear his office chair squealing in the background of the call. I obviously shocked him enough to make him sit up.

_“Kurama?”_ His voice sounds hopeful. I bite the inside of my lip, wanting very much to press the small red phone button and smash the device against the wall.

“Yeah…” My voice cracks as I choke down a sob of despair. “It’s me, Hashirama. I’m alive.” 

_“Where are you? I’ll come get you.”_

I chuckle, laughter sounding cold as it leaves my throat. “Why would you do that?”

_“Don’t be stupid. You’re in trouble, right? You would have never called me if you weren’t!”_ He sounds worried; the volume of his voice booms from the speaker. And I guess it’s warranted. That night when I disappeared again, I told him I’d definitely give him a solid answer about coming back…He must have thought something happened to me, again.

“Hashirama, yelling won’t solve anything. I’m fine. Maybe I called just to talk.”

His laughter is just how I remember it; deep and rich, like dark chocolate. He continues to laugh for a few seconds before taking a long breath out. _“No one calls just to talk to me…Well, except maybe Madara.”_ At the sound of his name, Madara immediately perks up, eyes flashing with happiness. _“And speaking of Uchiha blood, Madara is looking for you, Kurama. He’s roughed up Shukaku and Gyuki. He’s asked specifically about you. You need to watch yourself.”_

“Not to sound rude, or anything, but if you can’t find me, what makes you think Madara can?”

_“What Madara lacks in information, I assure you, he will make up for with determination. Once he’s got his sights on you, he’ll hunt you down.”_

“Got any ideas as to why?”

_“Why he’s hunting you? Yeah, I got a good idea. He’s been asking about one of your assassinations. I don’t exactly know what you’d be able to tell him about it, but he seems keen on you anyway. He’ll probably want to use your skills for whatever it is he needs.”_

Sometimes Hashirama is too perceptive. “Well, I’ll keep my head down then. Can’t catch what you can’t see.”

_“But in all seriousness, Kurama…What do you want? If you don’t need help, it must be something else important. You still runnin’ with the Feds?”_

I laugh but really just want to cry. Madara and Hashirama weren’t stupid. They knew how infinitely valuable I was to any organization, criminal or not. This charade wouldn’t last forever. “After the Itachi incident, they’ve left me alone. I think they realized my skill set isn’t exactly ideal to take him down. Besides, I almost died because of them. If my death was linked to them, it would create a huge shit storm. I was in their employ, still known to be a professional assassin, and without federal consequences taken against me. It was better for them to just drop me.”  

_“I’m still waiting for an answer. What do you need?”_

I bite the inside of my lip. “I need information. Sometime isn’t sitting quite right with me and you’re the only one who can give me any perspective on it.”

Hashirama laughs again but this time, I know, it isn’t his normal, amused tone. It is his darker, more plotting laugh. I grind my teeth together. _“Only if I get to see you. I won’t give you anything otherwise.”_

I hit my hand against my forehead, annoyance pulsing through my veins. Of course he would going to make a big request like that. I really should have seen that coming. He wants me back and he wants me to be exclusively his again. But I don’t want to be tied down anymore. It’s bad enough I’m getting caught up in Madara’s webs. “Hashirama, that’s a little…” Madara catches my attention from my peripherals, he’s waving his hands wildly. He points to the phone and then points down to the floor. He wants me to bring Hashirama here?! Is he stupid?

Itachi makes a soft noise as he looks at his Uncle, shaking his head at me to signal ‘no’, Kisame and Sasuke seem to be agreeing with him. Madara, however, makes a threatening gesture towards Itachi, slashing a finger across his throat. Itachi licks his lips, shrugging, looking at me.

I guess it’s really just my call. To be fair, I know exactly what Hashirama will do. He’ll bring himself and at least two other Jinchuuriki with him. And they will be ones I was close with so probably Gaara and Bee. He’ll definitely go on the defensive, stop at nothing to guilt me. I don’t want to go back, though. I don’t want any more blood on my hands, which will then drive a needle into my veins. But either way, with Madara, Itachi, myself, and Kisame, Hashirama will be out skilled. I’m not sure about Sasuke’s prowess as a killer but if he’s Uchiha blood, he has to be handy with a knife.

“Fine.” I send a small glare Madara’s way but he shrugs. I can feel Itachi’s enraged eyes all over me. He’s definitely not happy but what else am I supposed to do? “But let’s cut the bullshit, I know you’re tracing this call. Why makes such silly requests?”

_“I wanted to give you a chance to cooperate. But you’re too smart for me.”_ Him praising me isn’t a rare occurrence but he must be pretty desperate to keep me in a happier mood if he’s resorting to it. _“I’ll meet you at midnight, at that address. I look forward to seeing you, Kurama.”_

I sit in silence as the call goes dead. Blinking, my fingers wrap around my phone. Before I can really stop myself, I’m slamming it against the marble. I know it’s already too late, that I’m too far inside this world to pull myself out, but I still let the anger flood up through my veins, let it control my muscles. I’m not just putting myself in danger, I’m putting everyone around me in danger now.

Sasuke grabs my arm, stopping me from smashing the device any farther. I can feel pieces of the screen embedded into my skin, blood dripping all over the cracked plastic. I pull my arm back, looking over at Madara. He seems lost in thought, holding his chin between two fingers; the gentleness of his smile only speaks of lies.

“Well, we better start getting prepared.” Madara says with finality. He must have known the risks; known them all. He didn’t bother to care that I was leading on the most dangerous men into the house where he held his secrets. I really doubted anyone knew about Sasuke.

“That’s all you’re going to say?” Anger pulses inside of me and he just smirks at me.

He leans over, gently tracing my cheek with the tips of his fingers. “You played your part beautifully. Now, go get dressed. We need to make sure everything is ready for Hashirama. Unless, that is, you’re okay with seeing him without your gun?”

I tense, looking over at Sasuke. He’s rolling his bottom lip around his teeth. I hear the screech of metal against tile and see Itachi getting up, shaking his head. “I’m going to get some sleep.” He mutters, shouldering past Madara as he heads upstairs, most likely back into Sasuke’s room.

Kisame sighs. “Is there anything that you need me to do beforehand?”

Madara shrugs. “No, not really. Just go get some sleep. I need to play with our lovely children for a little bit.”   
  



	5. Chapter 5

**NARUTO’S POV  
\--**

Madara doesn't look especially pleased as he pulls up to my apartment. Of course, it is in the part of town where the murders went uninvestigated and the prostitutes lined the streets; shadows meant for the night casting their foreboding bodies into the light and letting us all see what kind of abuses they’ve endured. I step out of the car and Sasuke immediately tries to follow me. I click my tongue, shaking my head. “No, no, Sasuke. Not today. I’ll be out in five minutes, I don’t need an escort for my own house.” I say but he just scowls at me, unamused with my words.

“Let him be, Sasuke.” Madara chastises. “He’s a big boy.” The young Uchiha huffs, almost pouting as he sits back down, closing the door. “To be fair, you should just be appreciative that I let you leave the house during the day.” Sasuke rolls his eyes.

I almost want to thank Madara but then I remember he was the one to get me into the horrible situation in the first place. Cruelty and greed were never going to be something he would lack, nor would they ever be replaced in his tomb of flesh. I could tell his thoughts only existed on Hashirama, repulsively excited for their meeting. I slam my door, heading towards the complex. Some of the prostitutes mutter as I pass, doting over my good fortune about the attractive ‘Johns’ I have in the car. They smile wickedly at me as I head towards the stairs.

Truth be told, I would have been fine if Sasuke had followed me up, provided Sai wouldn’t be there, lingering. But, unfortunately, he was, no doubt, already here. I wouldn’t be half-surprised if he gave me quite the lecture when I walked in. I can see it now, he would be sitting on my bed, head in his hands or sleeping, waiting for me to reappear. I had managed a very good vanishing act; vaporizing my existence from him, letting the steam of body slip through his grasp, yet again. If he reported to his superiors that I was missing, they wouldn’t follow me. And since my phone was destroyed, they couldn’t track me. They trusted Sai to keep an eye on me, and they were right to do so. He was very good at keeping me in one place because he was familiar, we had history, a bond of sorts.

Besides that, getting a plant in the Feds was no joke; Sai was practically a present from the Gods.

I didn’t need the keys to open my door, knowing it would be unlocked. Tentatively, I turn the knob, sighing through my nose as I enter my apartment, the door squeaking on the hinges. The stirring inside is instantaneous and just as I suspected, Sai comes into the living room from my bedroom. So predictable; it almost made me sick. He was like my puppy, watching, waiting for me. Sometimes I wished I could just kill him; end both of our misery.

But like I said, Gods’ gift. Not meant to be wasted.

He wraps his arms around me and I almost feel bad for not contacting him.

_Almost._

He pushes me back from him with a sudden ferocity, anger pulsing into his expression. It was one emotion he could actually perform without much preparation; others were far harder for him. He glares at me, words he wishes to speak still tingling on those lips. His expression is fast changing, eyes blurring between anger and relief, worry and murderous rage. I simply click my tongue, passing around him.

“Where were you?” He asks, trying to grab my arm. I laugh deeply in my throat, easily avoiding him. I wish that is enough to deter him. It never will be.

My blatancy in ignoring him did not sit well; I feel my entire body press into the wall in the hallway, his larger frame pinning me to cracking plaster. His heat against me is nearly unbearable and as I struggle underneath him, my thoughts wander. I could easily overpower him; throw an elbow into his rib cage, stomp down on his foot and, as he staggers back, punch him in the throat. I have enough force in my fists to break a windpipe. He really shouldn’t underestimate me. He really does trust me too much not to hurt him.

He is such a fool. So blind by love.

But then again, so am I

However, perhaps against my better judgment, I let him turn me around. Sai’s face is good-looking, I’ll admit. His skin is etched in moonlight, eyes and hair both kissed by midnight, and his lips are plush with romanticism of evening light. But, I digress. Sai is still Sai; my body did not urge to have the pleasures of his nightly company.

His kiss is too demanding, harsh with longing on my lips. Kissing like this should be reserved for lovers, someone who deserves the passion of the heart, the heat of the moment, the warmth of the sun on their skin. A kiss like this should not be given to me, someone who openly mocks love by letting any man with an ample dick inside my sacred temple.

I slap him, a little harder than I mean to, snapping him back into his right mind. I scowl at him and he just turns away from me, hand holding his cheek. Sai has never physically attacked me before. Sure we’ve had plenty of verbal altercation but nothing as serious, yet gentle, as this. I roll my eyes, sighing. He needs to learn that I am not something he can have. It’s been a very long time; I do not wish to play these games with him anymore.

I step into my room, still ignoring him. He lingers in the doorway, his eyes are all over me but I don’t care. I came here for one reason. I need my gun and that was it. Right now, I didn’t need Sai’s emotional bullshit getting in my way.  

My hand fumbles in the drawer, pulling up the false bottom. My gun; The Lucky Nines Revolver. The only item I had used for pain. I bite down on the inside of my lip as I pull it from its wooden prison, peeling the silken cloth from it. The only time I ever took it out was to clean it and load it. I hadn’t needed to use it for two years but tonight, I very well may. I slid it down into the back of my jeans. I turn, ready to leave; lingering is not part of the plan. Sai is blocking the way to my exit. He’s staring at me. There are words on his lips in which he wishes to speak, but I know him, I doubt he’ll ever say anything about that kiss.

“Where were you?” Sai mutters lightly. “I was worried sick.”

“Don’t bother worrying.” I say back, harsher than I intend but he needs to have his feelings set back in order. It would start out as a kiss and then it would escalate from there. Sasuke’s body was the only one I wanted at the moment, even though he is my forbidden fruit, my decadent apple. Only, when I took my bites into it, I didn’t gain knowledge, I lost my sense, selling myself to the Uchiha blood which dripped from the peel of that fruit.

What have I become?

I try to shove past him, knowing Madara and Sasuke are waiting for me downstairs. If I take too long, I wouldn’t doubt that Madara would send his miniature Adonis up to get me. And then Sai and Sasuke would meet face to face and it would be bloody.

I’d have to kill Sasuke if that happened.

“Naruto, this isn’t like you…”

“Oh, bullshit, dude.” I say, pulling a cigarette from my pocket, lighting it as I stand in front of him. I already developed the lie I was going to tell him in the car. Sai is easily convinced by me because he is blind to my deception. He never knew when I wasn’t telling the truth; he trusted me. A poor decision, really. “If you know so much about me, you’d know this is exactly how I act when I’m working. I don’t have time for standing around.”

“What do you mean ‘working’?”

I look at Sai like he’s stupid, resisting the urge to blow smoke in his face. “What do you think? Danzo gave me an assignment, didn’t he? I’m helping him. He should be happy. Also, I broke my phone, don’t bother calling.” This time when I shove him, he gives way far easier. My shoulder brushes past him and he starts laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“No, nothing. I guess I worry too much.”

“You thought I died, didn’t you?” I turn around, tapping the ash off white paper. “Or perhaps, you thought I just disappeared? Ye’ of little faith.”

Sai shrugs and leans against the wall. “I figured you may have broken your phone. I couldn’t get a GPS lock on you when I tried a couple hours ago. I already got you a new one.” He says, shoulders relaxing finally. I wonder if my voice calms him. Or perhaps finally giving him something solid allows him to feel solace. Either way, he is far more at ease and I can make a request of him. He pulls out a phone from his pocket and hands it to me. “I knew whatever situation you’d gotten yourself into, you’d be able to get out of. Escaping is your specialty after all.”

“Did you just take a jab at me?” I frown, unlocking the screen. The cigarette hangs, almost burnt out in my lips. Sai’s number is the only one I have now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have smashed my old phone. He shrugs, plasticity in his smile.

“That’s not all I need, Sai.” I smile back at him, fluttering my ocean blues at him. He’s putty in my hands. “I need some information.”

“I’m sworn to carry your burdens.” He mumbles. “Is it an object, person, other?”

“Since when does the bureau run an ‘other’ category?” I squint at him, skeptical. This is the first I’m ever heard of it.

“You’d be surprised what people have looked up and gotten hits on, like animals.” Sai suggest, seeming to quell that thirst pretty quickly.

“I need information on two people. Makes it easier than looking up their golden retrievers, eh?” I say with a slight smirk. “The first should have some kind of record, the other, I’m not too sure. He is crippled so…”

“You want information on a crippled man?” Sai looks at me, eyebrow raised. I’m still smiling calmly. He sighs. “Names?”

“Uchiha Obito.” Sai’s eye widen, as expected. Anything related to the Uchiha family always raises some kind of red flags. They’re such a dangerous clan. “And the other, I don’t know his family name but his name is Nagato. He’s a red head, eyes are purple, in the range of later twenties to mid-thirties, wheel-chair bound. I would say that he’s from here but I’m not sure. I’ve seen him prowling around the Uchiha dope territories, though, so you can start looking there.”

“And that is going to help find Itachi, how?” Ah yes, all eyes focused on the big fish. Sometimes it was a wonder that the bureau found anyone when their gaze was so narrow. They never did see the bigger picture. I guess that’s why they’re dependent on me.  

“Like I said, ye’ of little faith.” I taunt, shaking a disapproving finger in his face. I hate when he questions me about leads, usually he wouldn’t but they’ve been strained pretty thin trying to find Itachi. I flick my cigarette into the kitchen sink, drowning out the fire with a quick turn of a knob. “Do you not trust me?”

“I just think it’s strange that you ask all about the little brother and then now you’re on a completely different topic.”

“I think the brother is a dead end.” I reply smoothly, knowing full well that Sasuke was not at all a dead end and because of said little brother, I got ankle deep in bullshit. “If Itachi was here for him, he’s either sitting with him, sipping tea evilly, or dead.”

“I guess.”

“Besides, it’s been, what, fifteen years?” I move around Sai and start heading towards the door. I stop short of opening it. “That kid’s trail is deader than my parents.”

I grab the knob, feeling a sudden apprehension. Sasuke and Madara are both downstairs, waiting. If Sai follows me down, I know Madara will immediately shoot him, eyewitnesses or not. And then I’ll be a big target for the bureau again. I bite the inside of my lip as Sai moves closer to me, fully intending on following me outside. I smile again.

I have to think of something.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The lie itself is sloppy but it’s the best I can do for now. Sai is important, especially for cracking this mystery wide open. His hair swishes a little as he stops abruptly. “I’m being followed. I need to know who they are and if they try to come in here.”

“I’ll come out with you.” Sai implores, hand on my wrist. I shake him off with a laugh.

“You’re kidding, right? The last thing I need is for you to get captured, let alone assassinated. The bureau would be pissed.” I open the door, setting a foot outside. “Stay inside for another hour, if they come up or try to break in, I feel you can handle it. They won’t be expecting you.”  

I step outside, closing the door in his face before he can say anything else. And I’m glad I did so because Sasuke had just put his foot down on the last stair. He glances towards me, frowning. I really hope Sai isn’t looking through the window right now. I doubt it because he knows how important stealth is but I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s an idiot sometimes.

“What?” I question, smirking. “Worried I’d run away?”

“I wasn’t.” Sasuke says, turning around again. “Madara, however, did think you split.”

“I was in there for like five minutes.” I whine, coming over to him. He puts arm over my shoulder. I snuggle into him; he relaxes. Maybe I have that effect on all ravens? “That’s definitely not enough time to make a sheet ladder to get out of my window. Plus, he’s in a car. Escaping on foot isn’t ideal.”

“Just the fact that you thought of a way out is enough for him not to trust you.” Sasuke comments, rolling his eyes. “Did you get everything you needed?”

“Of course.”

\---

**Sasuke’s POV**

My skin itches with need as I walk through my front door. Madara and Naruto are chatting calmly behind me and my mind can’t focus on their conversation.

I need it.

I haven’t had cravings this bad in a while. My fingers are twitching, skin feeling too tight over every muscle, contracting over every pore. I blink the sweat out of my eyes. It seems stupid to have withdrawal symptoms over something like this but they come anyway, filling my stomach with nausea and acid.

It hurts.

My hands shake, too twitchy; annoyance fills up my gut. Part of the problem is that I know I have some in the refrigerator so the ache for it becomes overwhelming. Madara’s eyes are on me, I can feel them penetrating into my skull as I pull open the door, retrieving the small needle. I turn slightly, seeing Uncle ushering Naruto towards the rooms in the back of my house. He must not want Naruto to know about these weakness I have.

I guess it is for the better.

My room is my sanctuary; the key to sanity. Itachi will probably be sleeping in my bed but I don’t mind. I just want to be obscured so I can drench myself in addiction. Sometimes, I feel shameful about it. But it is the life I chose. I close the door softly and Itachi barely stirs, looking at me through slants. He sighs, rolling over, pulling up the blanket. It is actually rare for me to see him sleeping. I usually sleep before him and he wakes before me. This is a moment where he is infinitely vulnerable. Perhaps that’s why he only sleeps here, in my bed, where he knows he’s safe.

A soft creaking quakes through the silence of the room as I get on the bed; Itachi moves quickly, already scooting closer. “Itachi, not now, I’m shooting up.” He mumbles something under his breath and stalls, obviously waiting for me to inject myself and put the needle down before pulling me in. I lie down, propped up by my pillows, my back is cramping from the need, the urge causing all my muscles to ache. I never understand why but right as I line up the needle, my hands stop shaking.

The relief is immediate as it all comes flooding into my system. And Itachi didn’t lie to me, this one is potent. The rush quells the fire in my blood, making the ache immediately stop.

Sometimes I liked it when Itachi didn’t tell me about the people I was receiving so it could be like unwrapping a present. And his life was no exception. His memories were rich; filled with a seemingly normal upbringing. Nearly Kodak photo moments, as if he literally lived a life of commercial fantasy, but there was this overwhelming sense of isolation. As he grew older his memories became stronger, filled with the sickness of his mind. He was a serial killer; mutilating and killing the idealistic women as portrayed by media outlets. He killed, wanting to show that beauty on the outside didn’t equate to beauty on the inside.

‘If you remove the skin, you’ll just be muscle and bones! Just like everyone else.’ His voice was full of glee as the knife in his hands glistened in front of her. She screamed loudly when he took the first chunk off.

It goes on like that for a while, each kill getting more and more brutal. But then Itachi was there with Kisame, both of them looking displeased at the man. He’d huddled himself in the corner of his apartment, splaying over a body he had yet to mangle. The blackness and depth of Itachi’s eyes was almost startling as he looks down at the man.

‘You…’ He began, looking at Itachi with an animalistic hunger. ‘Gorgeous, simple perfection.’

Kisame clicked his tongue, taking a defensive step forward. ‘Tell me, do you know why we’re here?’ Kisame’s voice sounded heavy with anger.

The man looked up, eyes still wide as he rested them only on Itachi, not paying a single ounce of attention to anything else. Itachi’s face was a mask of neutrality. ‘I bet even your bones are beautiful.’ He rushed towards Itachi, making his mask shatter as disgust entered his features, etching his beauty with disdain. The man had a knife in his hand but Itachi simply sauntered away, grabbing his wrist. The angle he bent it was unnatural, causing a sick crack to fill the room.

‘Ask not for whom the bell tolls.’ Itachi said, his voice steady as the knife changes hands too quickly, a long red split erupting blood from the man’s neck. And then, blackness.

I’m panting when the rush is over and Itachi removes the needle from my hand, setting it on the side table. He smiles at me, opening up his arms. “Come here, Sasuke. Let’s cuddle.” I rush into his arms, feeling his muscles ripple as he holds my smaller body. I know Itachi kills but it was weird to _see_ him doing it; see him submerged his element. It wasn’t the first time I had ever seen it and I doubt it would be the last but there was such a strangeness to it. Especially since, after I watched him kill that man, he wants to cuddle.

I push farther into his arms, hearing his heartbeat clearly as my head rests against his chest. His chin softly buries into my hair, nose and lips accompanying it. Itachi’s breath is warm against my scalp and I am at the peak of relaxation. Just being this close to him feels nice. This was the man who chased away my nightmares, the man who saved me. I pull back slightly so I can look at Itachi’s face. His eyes are closed, grip very firm around me. I move to give him a kiss on the temple but he pulls back slightly as if to reposition. His eyes openly widely as my lips press gently into his. They’re softer than I expect. He chuckles. I can tell my cheeks are bright pink with embarrassment.

“I…Y-you moved.” I don’t know what else to say. It was not my intention to kiss him on the lips. I hadn’t done that in many a year. He brushes his fingers smoothly against my cheek.

He kisses my forehead, only adding to my embarrassment that he can easily accomplish the simple gesture when I couldn’t. “It’s fine, Otouto. What’s a kiss between family?” He pulls me closer into his chest. “Besides, you used to kiss me all the time like that when you were still small enough for me to carry.”

“Aniki, you can still carry me.”

“Then, Otouto, you are still small enough to kiss me.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“Don’t make it so easy.” I could tell by the way my mouth is curving that I’m pouting. Itachi’s practically half-asleep and he’s still easily able to tease me. No one should be able to be that bright and brilliant when they’ve had three hours of sleep. I continue to pout until Itachi’s body heat starts to lull me into a comforted state. My eyes slowly start closing, sleep becoming too powerful for me to fight off…

Until Madara opens the door, taking what seems like two million pictures of Itachi and myself, cuddled together. He’s smiling widely as he continues to take the pictures. I roll in Itachi’s arms as he perks his head up; we’re both glaring.

“Ohhhh, you two are so adorable.” He scanning through the pictures, flipping each one away with a flick of his thumb. “I think this one might be a lock-screen photo.” He sits down on the bed next to me, the bed sagging with his additional weight. I’m still glaring. He shows us the picture and Itachi clicks his tongue. I guess it is kind of a cute photo…

Itachi’s head is on top of mine, face nestled in my spiky hair. His long hair rippling waves of silken black on the pillows beneath him, fanning out on both of our arms. Only the upper section of my face is visible with Itachi’s other arm slung over my shoulder. Both our eyes are closed and Itachi’s mouth is only slightly open. “So cute! Oh, my babies!” Fawning over us is something Madara loves to indulge in. When we lived with him, this was a very common occurrence.

“Shouldn’t you be watching Naruto or something?” Itachi mutters darkly. “You seemed convinced he would attempt to escape if we left him alone.”

Madara scoffed. “That kid’s fine. He’s still trying to crack the note for me. Real sweetheart, that one.”

“Uncle, I’m trying to rest for your half-baked plan.” Aniki’s tone is harsh, showing much more than his disapproval for the meet-up at midnight. “I’ve barely slept these past few days. Please allow me that much.” 

“Spoil sport.” Uncle mutters. “I haven’t slept either Itachi, but you don't see me complaining.” Itachi snorts, sending Madara a nasty glare. “Fine, fine. Sasuke go keep Naruto company. Itachi and I will be napping.”

“Why does everyone sleep in my bed? Is Kisame going to join the party next?” I complain, crossing my arms as I pass by Madara, getting up. He sheds his jacket and throws it to the floor. If Itachi is unpleased about being in bed with Madara, he gives no evidence of his displeasure known. He rolls towards the wall, eyes closed.

“Sasuke, wake me up in a few hours?” I nod at Uncle’s request. “My sweetest baby.”

I sigh, heading back downstairs. I hear Naruto’s voice muffled by the walls separating us. My eyebrow raises. I don’t hear Kisame’s voice so who could Naruto be talking to? My Footfalls silence themselves without much prodding from my body. Madara must have dropped him off inside the office. I head towards it. Naruto’s voice stops for a moment as though he’s listening, I peek my head into the room. He’s sitting at the desk with the computer; it isn’t on. He’s holding a phone to his ear and scribbling down something.

“Okay, well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. If you get into a shoot-out with the cops and live, you’ll probably end up in prison.” He sounds annoyed, face becoming more animated as he listens to whoever is on the line with him. “So, they met after he was transferred? That seems…Strange.”

I want to say something, draw his attention to me but I know it will be better if I don’t. Whatever Naruto’s talking about, he wants to keep it secret. But since he’s scribbling things down, that’s not necessarily true, right? I bite the inside of my lip, pulling my weight back into my heels as I rest my back against the wall.

“No, I don’t mean it like that. That obviously wasn’t planned. Like seriously, who plans to get shot in the spine, just to hopefully meet someone in prison? Seems like that was all pretty coincidental.” Naruto’s face is beautifully expressive but suddenly his body stops moving, face blanking; no fidgeting, no movement except for his eyes which seem like they’re reading something invisible in the air. “You can’t be serious. When exactly did this happen?” He presses his fingers to his forehead and sits back in the chair, running a hand through blindly blond hair. His eyes are closed now, shaking his head.  “The time frame _definitely_ fits…”

Naruto’s eyes widen. “No, no, I’m just, musing out-loud, I guess.” The smile is in the blond’s voice but not on his face, whoever he’s talking to must be someone he can easily deceive. “So they’re still on the lam? After all this time? You guys kind of suck at your jobs, don’t you?” He snickers into the receiver. After a brief pause, his smile slips a little. “Is that everything?” Naruto is chewing his lip, licking and biting it; he is teasing me without realizing it. “Alright, call me if you find anything else.” He hangs up sighing. “You know, loitering isn’t your strong suit, Sasuke.”

Ah, I got caught. I peek into the room and he waves at me. “What gave me away?”

“Your house is silent, Teme. I could hear your hair brush against the wall; spikey hair plus close wall contact equals noise.” He’s smiling widely. I touch my hair, frowning. It had betrayed me. “Where’s Madara?”

“He and Itachi are sleeping together.” Naruto gives me a strange look and I realize the implications of my wording. “I could have phrased that better.” The blond laughs; his heady, sexy voice ringing in my ears and I start smirking. “So, who was that?” I ask, coming into the room.

“My informant.” Naruto replies cryptically. He averts his eyes from me, spinning slightly in the office chair. “I asked him to do some digging for me. It connected Obito and Nagato without a doubt, but it still doesn’t answer the more important question.”

“Which is?”

“Where are they?”  
\---

**Naruto’s POV**

Hashirama is so predictable.

And yet, so am I.

Just seeing his car, the familiarity and warmth fills me. I missed him. I missed them. I missed it all, sometimes. But that was part of being an adult, moving on when there was nothing left. I am clean and sober now; thoughts of killing anyone bring a cold sweat to my spine. I am no longer the man they knew, nor the weapon they were comfortable with.

I am Uzumaki Naruto, now.

No longer the shadow; Nines Kurama. 

Even still though, my chest aches. Their silhouettes in the car reminding me of what I had to give up when I was dragged out. They were my family once.

As soon as I see his car pull up to Sasuke’s driveway, Hashirama only confirms my suspicions. Gaara and Bee are both in there with him. Their eyes are all full of hope as the car barely stops. They all start tumbling over themselves to get out, excitement more than evident.

They want to see me.

But Madara has been very specific about the instructions he gave me. Lead them in, let them go.

A twinge of longing fills me as they stop to watch me at a distance, to stare at my face, as if I was ghost, as if they had to make sure it was still me. I make a beckoning motion at them, fingers curling away from them, bringing them towards a trap which lay in wait inside. From the look on Hashirama’s face, he is not at all worried about what’s inside. He does not believe me capable of hurting his trust. As they step closer, I rush through the door, not bothering to close it behind me.

I missed seeing them. And it hurts just as much to see them now. I was the one who had been betrayed and now I am their betrayer. My chest aches as I rush back through the dining room, Sasuke and Itachi against the walls, poised and ready.

Almost…I almost grab Sasuke and pull him back behind the archway with me where I know he’ll be safer. I don’t want to see him get hurt by them. I’m more than sure, just because of what Madara has instructed, that Sasuke will be able to fight. But there is a chance of anything happening. I don’t know if Sasuke is skilled enough to fight against Bee or Gaara.

At least Hashirama will be too distracted by Madara to start throwing his weight around.

I sink behind the wall and hear Sasuke’s hair brushing against it. We are separated by plaster but I can feel him, his presence. I want to be closer to him. Resisting the urge to go out again and stand by Sasuke’s side, I pull out my gun, fingers cramping around it.

Kisame is standing beside me, giving me a thoughtful smile. “Don’t worry, kid. Sasuke and Itachi will handle this if it starts to get ugly.” Kisame always did seem like the sincere, kind one of this group. Being Itachi’s partner almost required him to be patient, strong, _and_ understanding. He pats me on the shoulder. “Nothing will happen to Sasuke. Madara and Itachi would both die before that.”

I hope he was right.

**Sasuke’s POV (starts before Naruto’s previous one)**

From what I had gathered today, the situation in front of me really shouldn’t have been so surprising. So then, why was my eyebrow twitching so much? I’m actually quite annoyed by Uncle’s display and can’t necessarily say why.

Madara sits in the dining room, a full meal in front of him, romantically lit and everything. Candles and dim light making the features of his face sharp and poignant. Apparently he, whoever this Hashirama person is, has a very strange place in Uncle’s heart. But from the excitement he had over the phone call, I really should have known better.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes as Itachi hands me a pouch of throwing knives. We’ve been prepping since I woke them up and I’m ready for whatever it is that will happen tonight. Though, nervousness bubbles up in my gut and makes a sour taste tinge the back of my tongue. Itachi and Madara have trained me for years to be my own predator but I would be up against professionals. And I am, by no means, a professional in any regard. I never joined any murder clan like Itachi or whoever would enter my house tonight. My fear of inadequacy must show on my face since Itachi gives me a soft kiss on the temple.

“Don’t worry, Sasuke. I will protect you if anything starts to go south. You know I’d give anything in the world to make sure you’re safe.” Itachi’s hand is against my cheek, rubbing soft circles with his thumb. I nod a little too numb for my liking.

“Alright, so this is the plan.” Madara announces flexing his hands. “Hashirama will be here in a few minutes and I want everything to be perfect. Naruto, go outside and wait for him, but as soon as he comes up to the house, head inside. Lead him to me.” The blond twitches at Madara’s sudden, wicked look towards him. “Itachi, I want you and Sasuke here with me because you two can throw knives faster than most people can react. But do not do so unless directly threatened.” Itachi and I both nod at the command. At least Madara is going to try to keep this clean. “Kisame, you and Naruto will hang back in the archway after Naruto comes back in. If things get too sticky, I want you both to immediately interfere. I doubt Hashirama came alone so be prepared.”

Naruto seems agitated, much more than I’m used to seeing, but from what I understand, it is just an inevitability. He’s fingering his gun, hands flexing as he shoves it into the back of his jeans only to pull it out again and fiddle with it more. His nerves must be straining. The blond stares at the clock on the wall, suddenly deciding to move with quick strides towards the front of the house, following Madara’s command. Somehow I felt like Naruto might refuse but then again, he wasn’t exactly in an ideal position to do so.

Time is ticking forever; a bead a sweat slowly coming down from my forehead, cascading down my chin and dripping into oblivion as I wait for Naruto to come back inside. Itachi is swinging the handle of one of his blades on his fingers, obviously ready to throw it immediately. My hand is perching above my thigh where my own blades linger, obscured by black fabric. Then I see him, he’s running through the dining room and I hear the thumping of feet behind him as he throws himself behind the archway, his back and mine separated by plaster.

Adrenaline burns my veins as a man appears in the opposing arch.

And I thought Naruto was tan.

His long dark brown hair sways as he takes in the sight of Madara, sitting at the table, face glowing with candle light. This must have been Hashirama because Madara’s face changes up considerably, smirking almost too widely. Two people appeared behind him; the first, a tall black man wearing sunglasses. He’s large like Kisame, full of muscles. There are tattoos on his face and eight swords on his back. The second a much shorter red head with the palest green eyes I’d ever seen. He only comes up to Hashirama’s shoulder and his face is too eerily calm for my liking. All three of them are deeply frowning, obviously not much caring for being set up.

“We’ve been ambushed, boys.” His voice is velvety soft as it rings out across the room.

“Ambush is such a harsh word.” Madara mutters, folding his hands together. “Especially for a surprise dinner, don’t you think?” Uncle’s red eyes take in the other man’s form as his frown starts to disappear. “Hashirama, long time no see. You never call me; that’s cruel, you know?” Madara began, lips twitching with the edge of amusement. “Please, have a seat.”

Hashirama laughs, in a strangely amused way, almost as though he isn’t angry about being tricked. “Ah, you got me this time Madara, you tricky, old bastard.” Hashirama is smiling as he takes a seat, sitting across the table from Madara. “I should have known, really. That call had your name written all over.”

“Not really, Naruto called you all on his own. I just convinced him here was the best place to meet.” Madara’s smirk gave me a slight chill. How could one person look so menacing in such romantic lighting?

“Oh, Naruto, huh? No wonder I couldn’t find him…” Hashirama’s smile hasn’t faded, but I notice something about it. Just how sinister it was becoming as he sits there, eyes locked with Uncle. My finger twitches into the pouch, two seconds away from a knife. Itachi’s body is crouched lower as he observes, watching the other two in the archway. He’s sizing them up and I know who he will go. He’ll leave me the smaller red head. The air is tense. “That reminds me, Madara.” His long brown hair sails over his shoulder as he brushes it back. “If you hurt a single blond hair on that boy’s head, I’ll make sure that you’re eating your own intestines instead of this delicious dinner you’ve prepared.”

The smirk on Madara’s face looks like it will split his mouth open; he’s clearly showing his anticipatory excitement. “Same for you, Hashirama. Hurt either of my precious kittens and I’ll make sure you choke on more than your own blood.”

“Ew…” Itachi mutters quietly, to no one in particular, making an unamused face. His eyes glance towards me and his stance starts to relax somewhat. I don’t know if we’re going to start fighting or if nothing will happen but the air is just getting more and more heavy as we sit in here together.  

“Speaking of,” Hashirama says looking pointedly at me. “I didn’t know you had a son.”

Madara tilts his head. “Huh? Itachi isn’t my son, you know that.”

“Thank god.” Itachi says under his breath, causing Madara to click his tongue in annoyance. He turns around giving Aniki a glare.

“Yes, yes, I’m aware. I meant the spikey one.” I can hear the softness of Naruto and Kisame’s obscured laughter from the other side of the wall. ‘The spikey one’? I feel a small bristle of annoyance as Hashirama’s long, thin fingers point towards me. My back tenses as all of their eyes fall on me.

Uncle’s face lightens as he sends me a loving look. “Oh, that’s right, you’ve never seen him before. I forgot.” He waves dismissively at the comment from Hashirama. Madara’s smiling with thoughts of me; I frown. “Sasuke is not my son, either. He’s my nephew, just like Itachi. They’re brothers.”

“You’ve been keeping secrets, _again_.”

“What’s life without a bit of mystery?”

“Excuse me, Hashirama, but I do believe we are not here to chat.” The red head looks at him with much impatience in his posture. “We're here for Kurama, remember?”

“I suppose if I ask nicely you won’t give him back, will you?” Hashirama asks with a shrug.

“Very important that child is.” Madara says. “He belongs to Uchiha blood now.”

The red head moves quicker than I anticipate, reaching for the gun at his hip. My knives are already sailing. He dodges them as we run towards each other. Guns aren’t ideal for close quarter combat and his arms twitches as he contemplates his next move. He creates a perfect opening for me as I reach for another knife with my left hand, distracting him. My right fist catching him in the cheeks. He staggers back in the wall as I encroach closer, wailing down on him. He puts his arms up to protect his face, gun now in hand. His hesitation before will buy him no chances now.

A hard knee to the stomach catches me off-guard, allowing him to smash in the side of my mouth with the heel of his hand. My head connects into the wall and I grunt; my vision wobbles for a second. As I fall back, I start rolling to the side, very much remembering the gun. A shot goes off, barely missing me as I move to the side, on my feet once more.

This guy means business and it was stupid of me to try and approach this half-assed. He is a trained assassin; I can’t treat him like I would one of my victims. He’s not helpless. I won’t play for much longer.

My fingers itch with anticipation as I avoid another shot; two holes in my floor now. A well-aimed knife cuts through the fabric on his shoulder. He seems stunned and I’m on him once more, forearms digging into his neck as I take him to the floor with me. He slams his head on the ground, immediately releasing his gun. I pin him down with my weight, fists raining down on him. I feel powerful as his nose starts to drip blood, letting out a yelp of obvious pain. He kicks me in the side and I lock his leg with my elbow, preventing it from moving. I start to twist it as he scrambles, reaching out for his gun. He cries with pain as the urge to snap his knee out of his socket consumes, punishing him for trying to get away. I’m smirking at the horridly pain-stricken look on his countenance.

“AHH!” My attention diverts to Itachi as he holds his shoulder, one of the man’s swords pierced through it, too close to his neck for my liking. Aniki staggers back, dropping to his knees, blood spilling in hot thick, drops down his arm. Itachi slowly retracts the blade, practically snarling. The man is also badly cut up as well, a deep-looking gash on his side, smearing his own hands with blood. They’re both panting. Another one of his swords raises above Itachi’s head.

“Itachi!” I call, moving to stand. The red headed guy grabs my leg and pulls me back down to the floor with him. He slams my shoulders back down into the ground, knees digging into my chest, his gun aiming at my temple.

“I’ll see you in Hell, Uchiha.” A shot rings out and I close my eyes, fear bubbling up in my throat. My life is going to be erased, my memories and moment of death lost with a bullet. Who would enjoy them, then? Who would know about my suffering? The thought of this red head erasing me chills my gut. But when I open my eyes, I realize I’m still alive and from the grunting I can tell that Naruto is wrestling with the red head on top of me.

“That’s enough, Gaara!” His voice sounds rough as he kicks the weight off of me.   
\---

**Naruto’s POV**

Rage pulses through me as I wrench Gaara off of Sasuke. He almost shot him, point blank. I toss him up and into the wall, causing him to groan. An air of satisfaction cools me as I lean over, getting on my knees next to Sasuke, but he’s already sitting up, looking over the table at Kisame and Itachi. Bee is strong, though I hadn’t expected him to be able to land such a detrimental hit on Itachi like that. He’s obviously been training a lot more since I left the business.

“I think that’s quite enough, Hashirama. You’re very much outnumbered.” Madara’s voice sounds like the flames of Hell are about to burst through the floor. He must be pissed about Sasuke nearly losing his brains to a bullet. I notice that his hands are shaking slightly, gun clenched in his fist. Even if I hadn’t acted against Gaara, Madara surely would have. Good thing I stepped in. Anger pushes Madara’s hands to quake as he brings them back up to the table, gun in Hashirama’s view. “This is not why we brought you here, at all. Shows of strength are not something I like to see.”

I stand abruptly as Gaara edges away from the wall, heading towards the gun I shot out of his hand. I walk over to it before he has a chance, my own revolver in his face. “Don’t do it.” I cock my gun as a threat, full intention to kill if he tries anything else. He already attempted to take Sasuke’s life three time, I would not let him have the chance for a forth. Our friendship be damned.

“You’ve definitely changed, Kurama.” Gaara utters, slumping back against the wall. He nurses the hand I shot. It would be bruised from the recoil but other than that, it’s fine. I didn’t even graze him with the bullet. Picking up Gaara’s gun, I slid it into the back of my jeans.

“It’s Naruto. That’s who I am. I’m not Kurama anymore.” Somehow his blasé attitude is really starting to rub me the wrong way. And I thought I was actually happy to see them. What was wrong with me? “And you!” I stalk over to Hashirama, he obviously isn’t expecting me to be suddenly angry with him. He actually flinches when I slam my hands down on the table. “Call them off, now. Get them out of here.”

Hashirama nods towards Bee who disengages with Kisame. They both glare at each other as Kisame quickly turns to Itachi, picking his smaller body up with ease. Itachi groans, blood spilling out of his wound. I’m actually surprised he was wounded that seriously. It was, by no means, fatal, but still.

Kisame heads into the kitchen and the slamming of cabinets can be heard. Sasuke gets up as well, casting me a look before I nod. It’s weird. Sasuke and I have an unspoken language between us now. We’ve only slept together but the connection between us is stronger than I thought. When he looked at me just then it was like I could hear his voice in my head, asking my permission to follow after Itachi and Kisame.

“Gaara, help Bee to wherever they went. They’re going to be sewing Itachi up and Bee needs to be patched up as well.” Gaara gives me a glance before heading towards Bee. His smaller body makes the help look more like it hurts as he staggers to hold the larger weight and carry it through the archway. Bee’s face is pained as they head up after Kisame.

Hashirama is rubbing his temples, looking over at me. “So, you and the spikey one, eh?”

“Yep.”

“He’s cute.”

“I know.”

“How long?”

“Few days.”

“And you’re already that attached?” Hashirama scoffs. “Love is blind.”

“I don’t love him.”

“Liar.” Madara mutters under his breath like I couldn’t hear him.

“Either way, you should know better than to think with that lower head of yours.” Hashirama flicks his eyes up to me, showing the disappointment that laid beneath their surface.

I lean in closer to him; I’m trying not to seem angry but I am. This entire situation is bullshit and he just wants to blame it all on me? I resist the urge to grab the fork next to his hand and stab him with it. I bite the inside of my lip, disgusted with Hashirama at the moment. “Don’t you dare pin this bullshit all on me. I didn’t plan any of this. Do you really think I wanted this to happen?”

“Wheth-“

“No, Hashirama. No more sweet talk, no more of any of it. I don’t need your voice of treason to confuse me again.” I can’t stop my hands from shaking. “I need answers; that’s why you are here. I was not lying when I called you. This is all you can do for me now; I’m not yours anymore.”

“But Kur-“

“MY NAME IS NARUTO!” I snap. My control is slowly slipping. This is not how I wanted today to go. I almost got Sasuke and his brother killed. Even if I try to blame Madara for Hashirama being here, I wanted to see him too. I am the one who misses him; I miss everything about my old life. I turn away from him, barely managing to compose myself.

“I’m sorry, Kur-Naruto.” The slip as he corrects himself helps make back from tensing any farther. I look at him over my shoulder. “I’ve missed you, a lot. All of the Jinchuuriki are special to me; you know that.” He turns his head down towards the candles, staring into the flames

“Is that why you signed off on an assignment that I never finished? Because I’m special?” I can tell Madara’s eating up my bad attitude, rolling with satisfaction at my anger. He’s been picking at me all this time, after all. This is really the first time I’ve lost my cool. And I don’t mean to be so angry but I can’t help myself. My chest is aching with conflicting emotions.

“What are you talking about? You always completed your assignments. I would have never signed off on it if that was the case.”

“Think back, Hashirama. About four years ago; you told me to off a man by the name of Nagato. His alias was Pain.” He didn’t seem to be following me. “I killed him six different times before you finally confirmed the kill. Do you remember now?”

“I don’t understand.” His eyebrows knit together.

“It is really quite simple, Hashirama.” Madara says with a cooled, more collected tone than he had before. Obviously he was able to compose himself during my meltdown. “You killed the wrong person which is why we are here. Because of your sign off, Nagato went under the radar and now he’s playing in my backyard.”

“Who gave us that contract?” My eyes narrow as I look at him.

Hashirama suddenly starts to blush. “Well, you see, about that…” His hands are twitching as he brings one of them up to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck. “I was the one who ordered that killing. That’s why I signed off on it, because, well, you killed the ones I knew were…Selling the dope.”

“What?” Madara and I share a look of disbelief.

“He was in your dope territory, Madara, and I just thought…”

Madara stands up, knocking his chair out from behind him. “Naruto, get out.” He starts stalking over to Hashirama, towering over him. I blink watching with horror as Madara shoves his tongue down Hashirama’s throat.

I didn’t need to be told twice to leave. I would be scarred for life because I didn’t leave sooner.

The moaning follows me as I head upstairs where they become muffled by the sound of running water. I walk into the bathroom, watching as Itachi and Bee pass of bottle of whiskey between them. Kisame is sewing up Itachi’s arm. Sasuke is nestled right beside the older Uchiha’s leg, holding onto his brother’s hand. His fingers are contracting pitifully as the needle pierces in and out.

“Well, I think I just saw more than I ever needed to.” I comment looking over at Gaara’s sloppy handiwork on Bee’s side. I kneel over to him, steadying his hand. He hands me the needle with little prodding.

“Why?” Itachi is the one to ask which surprises me. Though, I’m not surprised to hear his voice slurring a little.

“Hashirama and Madara are doing it.” I pierce the needle deeply, moving quickly as I sew. Suturing was never my strong point but Gaara is even worse at it, apparently. 

“Oh, come on.” Sasuke looks exasperated, eyebrows twitching with unconcealed annoyance. “First, we plan this stupid meeting, I get shot at, almost killed, Itachi gets stabbed, and then Madara just has to insult us all further by nailing that guy?”

“But Sasuke, they’re in love.” Itachi’s kind of funny when he’s drunk. He waves his free hand’s fingers as he says ‘love’, his eyes getting all wide.

“Madara and Hashi always been in love, they fit together better than a glove.” Bee adds. “One day at their wedding we’ll release the doves.” 

I bite down on the string after tightening the knot. Gaara silently hands me some rubbing alcohol and a bandage. “Bee, brace yourself.” I pour it right over the wound, blood washing around from his skin. He hisses and jumps away slightly. I press the bandage against him securing it. Sighing, I straighten up. “Alright, all done.”

“Lil’ Nines, you may left, put a real hurtin’ on our chests, but you’re still the best.” He slaps me gently on the shoulder, pushing me back with the pressure. I can’t help but smile. Gaara still doesn’t say anything as he looks down at Sasuke, glowering. “Red, you need to get over that hate, just cause you didn’t ‘preciate the strength of Uchiha.”

“That didn’t rhyme well.” Gaara comments, a sour look on his face. Bee frowns at his obvious bad mood.

I sit down next to Sasuke, looking over his face. Aside from the split lip, he looks fine. Not like Gaara whose face is still caked in blood and would have two very black eyes in a couple hours. Sasuke leans in, giving me a chaste kiss on the lips. I smile softly.

“AAAAALLLRIGHT.” Itachi says suddenly, sliding forward on the counter to tap me on the nose. “Nooooone of that please. If you and spikey over there start doing it, we’ll have nowhere to go.” I can’t hold back my laugh as Kisame pulls Itachi back towards him, finishing up the other side of stitches.

“He can’t hold his liquor at all…” Kisame says with a slight smile. “It’s actually kind of cute sometimes.”

“I’m not cute, Kisame. I’m fearsome.”

“Sure, sure, you’re very scary Itachi.”

“Thank you.”

“Is everyone going to call me ‘spikey’ now?” Sasuke looks peevish and I can’t hide my smile from him.

“Well, it is an accurate description.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Tough tits, otoutotototo!” Itachi playful ruffles Sasuke’s hair, making his frown deepen.

“So, did you find out what you needed, kid?” Kisame asks as he pours alcohol onto Itachi’s wound. The Uchiha’s face barely even winces.

“Nope. Hashirama was a dead end.”

“Good, I almost died for nothing.” Sasuke mutters darkly.

“You did a great job almost dying, Sasuke.” I say in a snarky tone, giving him a thumbs up. He sticks his tongue out at me. “Looks like all we have left is this note…” I pull it out of my pocket and unfold it. Gaara looks over at me, a frown coming to his features.

“Where did you get that?” He asks and suddenly hearing his voice makes me jump. I thought he wasn’t going to speak with me at all.

“It was sent to Madara after someone tried to off him. He’s been asking me to crack it for him. I’ve got nothing. Wanna take a look?” I offer, handing Gaara the note.

He shakes his head. “No, I know exactly what that note says.” My eyes narrow. “We’ve found notes just like with the bodies of the other Jinchuuriki.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starts with Naruto's POV

“When were you going to tell me that some of the Jinchuuriki are dead?” I exclaim, slamming my hands down in front of Hashirama. He didn’t seem barely phased. But then again, he had just got off with Madara so he must have been feeling _great_.

Gaara walks back into the room, running a hand through his hair. Unlike Itachi, Bee actually needed to rest because of his injuries. One does not get stabbed in the gut and hop around afterwards.

Hashirama sets down his mug, folding his fingers together. He sighs, smiling with a hint of sadness. “I had no way to contact you.” His eyes point at me, not bothering to hide his disappointment. “After you blew me off about me smuggling you away from the Feds, I figured you were in way too deep…That they were still holding you with something. So, I left you out of this.” Hashirama sighs, holding up his hands. “I didn’t know what else I could do. It all just happened so fast. And then, you three were the only ones left.”

My gut sinks like I swallowed a ton of rocks. How was this possible? The nine of us were highly trained assassins. We had killed countless people. And now six of us were dead? I wring my hands together, pacing a little. Gaara is watching me; I understand his anger now. This so called ‘betrayal’ which I orchestrated had left them with two instead of three. On my own volition, I had decreased our numbers, decreased our chances for survival.

And I really doubted they were getting any closer to cracking this thing.

Not having me also decreased our thinking power. Not that we could have gotten a name without Madara. Considering what a dead end Hashirama had been, I doubted I would have been much help to their search. Really, if Sasuke hadn’t found me, I would have been of no use to anyone.

But they needed me now.

This wasn’t just some obligation to Madara anymore.

“This is the first I’m hearing of this.” Madara mutters, sending Hashirama a look, as though he’s a little miffed.

“Accidents and miscalculations happen all the time in this business.” Simple enough, really. In this business, it would be impossible for everything to be work perfectly. Madara nods as his acceptance of the explanation. “I didn’t think anything of it until I was down two, with identical notes.” Hashirama massages his temple, his age showing more clearly than it ever had. “Then, they just started dropping like flies. Even after I banned missions to keep the remaining safe. That fucking assassin managed to slip in and get them.”

“Then how are your two goons still alive?” Madara asks, taking a sip of Hashirama’s coffee. 

“They went into hiding. Only gave me one number each to call in an emergency.” He shrugs. “Thought Kurama was a good enough reason to risk it. Considering he’s been out for a while, I didn’t think it was fair for him to get gunned down.”

“Doesn’t matter now. I’m back in.” I say, looking directly into Hashirama’s face. He’s trying not to smile.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Hashirama stands up, trying to pull me into a hug. I side-step him. His face deflates immediately and then gains a depressed posture from my rejection. I sigh, rubbing the crease between my eyes. Madara did a bad job of hiding his laughter.

“This is great and everything, but what exactly can you do, Kurama?” Gaara says, a little too snippy for my liking. I understand he’s pissed at me. I get it. But there was no reason to keep up this hurting bullshit. It would only waste time.

“Naruto.” I correct, turning to look him dead in the eye. “We need to crack those notes. There must be something in them. Hashirama, do you still have them?”

He nods. “Yeah, I got them. They’re at the office, but I have them.” 

“I need them. When can you get them?”

Hashirama looks over at Gaara. Considering Gaara only has two, very dark black eyes coming his way, it wouldn’t be such a stretch for him to retrieve anything. “I don’t know. I would ask Gaara to do it but he just came out of hiding. Whoever has been tracking us has gone AWOL since Gaara and Bee went off the grid. I don't want to set up a trap.”

Madara pulls out his phone. “I’ll set up an escort with a small team from my entourage.” A few messages later, he sets down his phone. “We got about ten minutes.” 

“Perfect.” I mutter. “Well, while we wait I guess we can start with information I got today from my informant.”

“And how, exactly,” It surprises me that Itachi is the one who’s speaking considering he’s still pretty lit. He definitely hides it well. “can we know for sure that your informant is giving us good information?”

I bite my lip, knowing that I can’t exactly reveal that I’m actually supposed to be working with the Feds. But, hey, fuck ‘em. I’d rather be doing something I care about than working for them. That Danzo guy really rubs me the wrong way. I look towards Itachi, my face calm. “Because he works for Shimura Danzo; all the government’s files, a keyboard away.”

All of them seem stunned by this revelation, Hashirama and Madara share a brief look before nodding in conclusion. It is now that they would decide whether or not I was loyal, and if they should kill me. From the calmness of both their faces, unless I am somehow reading them wrong, I’m thinking I may not be flayed alive.

“What have you got on that guy, I wonder?” Madara smirks, face glinting with his maliciousness. 

“Nothing.” I smile in the return comment, which makes Madara chuckle darkly. He doesn't believe me. That’s fine. I’ll let him believe what he wants.

“It’s probably not blackmail.” Hashirama continues with the stream of consciousness shared between himself and Madara. An annoyingly new connection it seems. “Knowing the kid like I do, he got that poor guy to fall in love with him and is stringing him along.” Hashirama sends me a pointed look. “Not that I mind much, it serves its purpose.”

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to sleep with a Suit?” Everyone in the room shares a look, much to my chagrin. Misdirection is the best I could do, for now anyway. I wasn’t going to reveal Sai, well, couldn’t reveal him. Even giving them a hint that he and I had a deeper past than sex and seduction would clue them in to his identity. And that, would cause me nothing but problems. “Also, are you two going to keep doing that really annoying ‘Wonder-Twin’ bullshit?” Itachi bites back a laugh.

“Whatever, just spill it.” Madara huffs, a little puffed up with his annoyance. He sends a glare towards Itachi, who is just calmly nursing his coffee, and making really inconsistent eye-contact with Sasuke, whose silence I actually fear the most. He hasn’t looked at me.

“Quit making eyes at Spikey over there and tell us.” Hashirama is getting impatient, which means he is very upset with his own lack of progress. The more he knew, the better he could be used. He isn’t a stupid man. He is, however, impulsive, and tends to act more purely on emotion. And then his counterpart, Madara, who is Hashirama’s opposite by nearly every account, balanced him by being cold, concise, and logical. They were a perfect pair.

Together, they probably didn’t even need me.

But, I need to remain useful to them.

“He told me, about five years ago, an interesting event happened at a maximum security prison. Somehow, two convicts, both serving life sentences, managed to escape during a staged riot by the other prisoners and were never re-captured.” I began. “And can we all take a guess as to who those people were?” I don’t know why Madara starts to raise his hand. But he did. I think I lost my sanity somewhere when I entered this house. “Why are you doing that?”

“Because if we do not keep all questions and answers under control and in an orderly fashions, by God, it will turn into a mad house in here.”

“Pretty sure it already is.” Itachi says, taking another sip of coffee. Kisame sends him a look, but he just smirks into his mug, ignoring it. “It was Obito and Nagato.” It is a real shame that I couldn’t get to know this spiteful Itachi better. I really like him.

Madara slams his hand down, eyeing Itachi with the most hate I’d ever seen, about to get out of his chair. Hashirama stills him, smiling gently, rubbing soothing circles into his back. They mumble something to each other and I, for the second time in minutes, consider my sanity. I heave a sigh, crossing my arms over my chest. Sasuke, who actually acknowledges me for once, stands next to me. It’s only offer me a cup of coffee, but the gesture itself is enough to set little butterflies free in my stomach. He leans over, kissing me on the cheek, and I smile, despite myself.

“They’re so cute, I hate it.” Madara mutters to Hashirama.

“Reminds me of us, when we were a little younger.”

“Pretty sure you weren’t a blond kid with a bad sex habit.”

“You know what I mean, don’t be an ass.”

“Before we get too off topic.” I slurp the almost overflow out of my cup, noting, with a small delight, that Sasuke is very good at making coffee. “Itachi’s right. It was Obito and Nagato. They met in prison after, apparently, Obito requested a transfer. And that in itself implies a lot.”

Gaara and I share a look; he nods, agreeing and picking up my suspicions. We’ve been in this information game a long time. Small things like transfers mean a hell of a lot more than they appear. Hashirama hums thoughtfully. “Now that _is_ interesting.”

“How about, for us people who can’t read the flight patterns of flies,” Kisame begins, rolling his eyes a little, “You and your posse don’t do that Vulcan mind bullshit?”

I laugh, albeit a bit nervously. “Right, sorry. It implies that there was outside influence. From what I’ve gathered, Obito and Nagato had no history together, criminal or what have you. Nothing. And even further, no knowledge that the other was in prison. It means someone _told_ Obito where to go. A mutual contact. Whether or not they knew the person before prison is still up in the air...”

Madara leans back in his chair. “This is going to get troublesome.”

“What do you know about their crimes?” Gaara asks, finally engaging me in something besides a glaring contest.

“They were both arrested for the same crime, but different circumstances.” I turn towards Madara, eyes narrowing. “How much do you know about Obito’s arrest?”

Madara smirks. “My, my, what a nasty look. I mean, I deserve it because I did set him up but still.”

“Well, there’s motivation…”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “Yes, it explains _one_ motivation. Nagato’s motivation has yet to be seen, however.”

“Hashirama, when did the Jinchuuriki start dropping off? Everyone was still alive when I was there.” I muse. He blinks, sighs then nods, confirming. “I would say about two years to the exact day.” Hashirama supplies, shaking his head. “I didn’t even notice…”

“Well, then there’s motivation number two.”

“So, Nagato wasn’t active until you set him off…” Madara mutters to himself, a pointed glare coming my way. “Wonderful.” 

 “But that still doesn't tell us everything.” Gaara says, returning my gaze. “This mutual contact couldn’t just be a way out of prison. It had to be something else. It would be…Odd, if they let Obito and Nagato run free considering how long it took Nagato to start engaging.”

“They could have been planning.” I suggest, taking a gulp of coffee. “If it was that simple to take down the most powerful men in Konoha, then it would have already been done, years ago, by someone else. It requires some work. But with what happened to Nagato syndicate, revenge overhauled their planning. ”

“Alright, but riddle me this.” Madara leans forward, elbows on the counter. “Why not start killing off my crew? Considering how well decimated the Jinchuuriki are, it looks like it wasn’t much of a hassle for them.”

Hashirama laughs slightly, looking towards me. I smile softly in return, “Shall I break the news or should you?” Madara looks between us, his disposition sour.

“Go for it.” I shrug.

“Madara,” Hashirama places his hand over the Uchiha’s and he looks down at the gesture, scowling. “Madara, no one likes you.”

Itachi tries to hold back his laughter, his shoulders falling up and down slightly, his frame shaking. Sasuke bites his bottom lip to hold back his smile. “What?!” Madara stood up abruptly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He aggressively walks over to Sasuke, who is starting up at Madara’s face, eyes bright with amusement. “Do you like me?”

“Of course,” Comes Sasuke’s glib reply. “I only want to smash your face into the counter sometimes.”

“That’s usually how familiar relationship work.” Madara nods with confirmation.

“Madara, not what he meant.” I reply, shaking my head. He gives me a skeptical look. “Alright, think about this. What would you do if someone in your syndicate died?”

“Nothing, really. Probably look for a replacement as soon as possible.”   

“Would you mourn them at all?”

“What’s the point of doing that?”

“Point is you’re an asshole.” Itachi cuts in, sending his uncle a glare. “Our deaths don’t affect you. And likewise your death wouldn’t affect us.”

“Itachi’s right. Your death is going to be direct, while Hashirama’s is a psychological breaking.” I say. “It’s obvious Obito and Nagato are taking this very personally. And the only way to effect you personally, Madara, is to kill you.”

“I always get the raw deal.” A knock breaks all of our attentions. As the door opens, I reach for the gun in my jeans.

“Yo, someone call an escort service?” Deidara burst through the doorway, Sasori following after him, scowling. Both pause when they see Hashirama and myself looking back at them. Well, really, it is probably not the most reassuring thing to see when you show up for a job. While it’s technically unofficial and we’ve never had a gang throw down before, The Akatsuki and Jinchuuriki tend not to mix.

Slowly, I see them start reaching for their weapons. I really want to avoid a shoot-out, but overreactions aren’t exactly covered by wishful thinking.

“Oh god, it’s you two? You were the only ones available?” Madara’s voice seems to shock them, both have their hands halted over their weapons, pulling back. I look over at Gaara and Hashirama, who are both releasing their bodies from their flexed positions. Guess the coast was clear, for now, anyway.

“Shit man, I thought were just wandered into a trap and you’re gunna bitch at us for being available?” Deidara walks in farther, far more relaxed, but his shoulders are still squared, ready for anything. He folds his arms over his chest, frowning deeply.

“Who are we escorting? You?” Sasori looks bored, shaking his head as he looks at Madara. “You seem to have everything handled.”

“Our little red headed friend here needs someone to watch his back.” Madara says. “I’d send Itachi with him but he’s a little drunk at the moment.”

Both send him a weird look, which he shrugs at. “I got stabbed.” He replies.

“Do you need me to look at it?” Sasori offers, already walking over to him. He peels back Itachi’s shirt, looking at the bandaging. “It’s not leaking so that’s a good sign…”

“Kisame patched me up. I should be fine.” Itachi says, smiling slightly to show his appreciation. It’s interesting to see Itachi being grateful for anything. It could be just because he was drunk, but somehow I doubted it. He was far too complex to be written off as a drunk-gusher.

Sasori reaches into a bag at his side and slams an orange bottle down in front of Itachi. “Just in case.” He mutters, looking over at Gaara before turning back, face remaining blank. “Antibiotics. Take one every eight hours.”

“You can always count on Sasori for back-alley doctoring.” Kisame pats him on the arm good-naturedly.

“Wait, why couldn’t you send mini-Madara over there?” Deidara’s shifts his weight to one foot as he points at Sasuke, who is scowling in return. “I’ve seen that kid work, he can serve as back-up, at least.”

“Probably because I’m the reason his nose is broken.” Sasuke replies in an icy tone, tossing a glance over at Gaara. I shiver at the coolness of his voice and the way his body language suddenly shift from relaxed to offensive. His commanding posture and tone set butterflies loose in my stomach. The urge to kiss him is overwhelming. “Doesn’t spell a working relationship.”

“Shouldn’t this fall under Hashirama jurisdiction? Considering Nines is here in mini’s kitchen, and looks very intact.” Deidara turns towards me, looking me up and down. I tilt my head towards him, our eyes locking. He looks away first, glancing at Sasori and then back at me. He’s intimidated, not something I’m used to. But reputation generally supersedes appearance in this business. And my reputation is dripping. “I’m surprised Madara managed to scare you up. What he get on you to suddenly throw you out of hiding?”

“Don’t give Uncle so much credit.” Itachi says, opening the bottle in front of him. “Sasuke found him.”

Deidara’s jaw slackens. “So, you’re telling me you let wasted potential over there find a Suit covered Jinchuuriki but you won’t let him go on an escort assignment? What kind of backwards bullshit is that?”

“Sasuke is not leaving this house, that’s final.” Madara slams his fist down.

“Alright, alright, Mother Gothel, but Rupunzel over there is going to want to run free eventually.” Deidara holds up his hands. “Where we headed?”

“To my headquarters.” Hashirama says, reaching into the pocket of his jacket. He retrieves a set of keys and tosses them over to Gaara. “You remember the combination right?”

Gaara nods. “Yeah, I know it. Let’s go.” He states.

I reach into my pants, pulling out Gaara’s gun. Before I throw it to him, I turn on the safety. “Just in case.” I say. He smirks at me.

They head out in silence, looking awkwardly as they pass the archway. I grab a chair from the side of the counter and sit down, setting my coffee down. I rub the space between my eyes. “Alright, let’s keep working.” I mutter, looking through my fingers. “I know this is going to sound like a stupid question but is there someone mutually connected to you two who would want to see you dead?”

Madara and Hashirama share a look. “Oh, I can think of plenty.” Madara says. “If Obito and Nagato are operating under this anonymous mutual contact, as you so assert, then it really could be anyone we’ve dealt with.” Hashirama nods.

“Then really, we’re all back to square one.” I pull the letter from my pocket and start straightening it, shaking my head. “I’ve looked at this damn note for _hours_ and couldn’t get past this stupid poetic, purple prose bullshit. I know I’m not some kind of literary theorist or anything, but I don’t think there’s anything to these metaphors.”

Madara nods, slowly, letting out a sigh. “Maybe we’ll find something in the other notes.”

It was really the only thing left we could do. Compare and sequence these notes, look for any form of discrepancy and pray to God it isn’t just some printing error or wild goose chase.

I frown looking down at the paper. It’s been soaked, dried, and crinkled to oblivion in my pocket. And nothing has revealed a secr-

I blink rapidly, making sure my eyes are tricking me. My heart starts pounding when I realize that it isn’t a trick. That this, this moment we’ve been waiting for, is real.

One of the letters is loose.  
\---

**Sasuke’s POV**

Redundant. This entire search is a circle, finding information, linking back to what we already knew, but not finding enough to really move forward. We’re chasing our tails, caught in a circle of our lack.

Everything we’ve done has led us back to a wall. And even when we think we scale over it, we can’t see the other side’s ground. It seems pointless to keep moving forward with this search. I know it had only been a few days and we’d made a lot of progress, but that didn’t necessarily break the cycle. The leads we tracked down always came up with nothing.

Naruto’s hands are straightening the paper, causing a cacophonous crinkling. He’s almost obsessively smoothing the edges, looking watching, eyes scanning and capturing the details. Naruto’s face lights up as he slams the note on the counter with a certain finality. He starts looking around the kitchen. We’re all staring at him, his sudden excitement spreading through the room. “What is it?” I ask and he looks at me.

“I need a knife.” Itachi and I are both quick to supply. Being that he’s closer, he gingerly scoots it across the marble. Naruto’s hand make quick work of whatever he’s doing and he holds it up, a letter, from the note. Everyone is silent as he smiles, warm and victorious. He looks over at me. “Sasuke, you fucking accidental, beautiful genius I could fuck you _raw_ right now.” 

“I thought they were all printed on the paper…?” Madara gets up from his seat, taking the small piece of paper from Naruto’s hands. His eyes return back to the note.

“That’s what I thought too, that this note was a huge anagram, or contained certain anagrams in the words, but we were wrong. _Some_ of these letters are removable. I can see three right now.” Naruto continues to pull them free. “And there’s a pattern. Beginnings of sentences.” He removes the last ones. “Six letters…If each note has six letters then it could be some kind of message, or code, or something.”

“What if they’re all the same? We might not need the others notes.” Hashirama joins Naruto, looking at the letters. He starts pushing them around with his fingers.

“I don’t think so.” Naruto mutters, looking suddenly pensive. Dividing the letters into groups and trying to spell out words. He shakes his head. “I can’t make anything out of these letters besides the word ‘gay’. And _this_ seems a little extreme just to call Madara ‘gay’.”

“And it would just be rude, really.” Madara rolls his eyes. “Insult to injury.”

“The notes were identical. I read through them all, looking for any differences.” Hashirama and Naruto stand shoulder to shoulder, scanning, eyes moving swiftly. “Fuck, I know Gaara just left but he really needs to hurry.”

“But weren’t there nine Jinchuuriki?” I inquire, eyebrow rising. All motion at the counter stops. Madara, Hashirama, and Naruto all pull their eyes away to look at me. “Six of them are dead, right? So that means there could potentially be three more notes we don’t have.”

“Fuck me; Spikey is right.” Hashirama says, shaking his head.

“We might be able to figure it out without those letters.” Madara suggests with a small shrug.

“But that means we’d be missing eighteen of them…” Naruto pipes in. “In all, this pattern from your note suggests that there are fifty four letters. And we don’t know any order or what they’d be trying to say.”

“Perhaps there’s a pattern in what letters are missing.” Itachi suggests. “From what I can see, it looks like they’re favoring the separation of vowels. If we’re including ‘y’ as a vowel, then shit, they only used two consonance.”

“Itachi’s right.” Kisame says with a small nod. “And it could be moving from the first letter, to the second, and so on. As long as we can predict some kind of pattern in the notes themselves, we should be able to figure something out.”

“They wouldn’t have left notes if they didn’t want us to find something. They knew there had to be a pattern for us to see, otherwise, why leave them?” I move towards the counter; I tap my finger against the paper. “And if Kisame is right about the way they’re sequenced, we don’t need the other three notes to figure out what letters are missing because they’re identical. I mean, it’s just logical that they may not have found every Jinchuuriki to plant notes.”

Naruto’s eyes are shining, his posture shifting as he watches me. “God, you’re so beautiful when you use that big, sexy brain of yours.”

Madara steps back, shaking his head. “But what’s the point of leaving multiple notes, then?”

Uncle’s eyes lock with mine. A wave of realization washes over me. “Uncle’s right…If they all had a certain sequence, why leave multiple notes?”

Naruto seems to pick up on the wave of thought. He chews his lower lip. “If the other notes are random, we’d still need the three other notes…” He rubs underneath his lip, eyes never leaving the letters. “It could have been to alert us to the sequence…Fuck, or Madara’s could be coincidental…Speculation really isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

“Well, I guess when Gaara gets back, we’ll have our answer.”

“We should prepare in that case.” Naruto says, looking at me. “You got a hair dryer?”  
\--

**Naruto’s POV**  
  
Progress is such a funny thing. At one moment you think you’re chugging along, shoving pieces into the correct holes, the next you’re realizing you’re out of those pieces and still have holes to fill up. Back tracking and re-experimenting and having the patience to run through everything; back and forth…

It’s exhausting.

And I, bearing the full weight of this, am about ready to explode. My eyes burn and sting from the sheer amount of time I’ve spent staring, calculating, wondering what it all could me. Gaara and I have been pouring over the notes for an hour now, bringing the group to one conclusion.

We were wrong.

Something is off about these notes.

There is something we can’t see about them. A connection, a pattern, something that’s not available.

Papers littered the marble, all with markings of some kind, as if we need a reminder of our failures. The notes themselves are also covered in nearly incoherent scribbling as we ruin and exhaust our brains producing theory after theory, ideas and conjecture, postulations and nothingness. It’s all a wash of bitterness on the back of my tongue.

Madara’s seems to be the anomaly in the group, misleading us from the very start. We made broad assumptions because of it, only to have our hopes shattered. Hashirama’s group of notes only produces six letters, giving us twelve instead of the postulated fifty four. The fact that we all, as a group, missed the mark by so much makes sweat drip down my neck, fretting. I have spent the latter part of my life immersed in logic, watching people for patterns, theorizing, and making conjecture plausible given enough evidence. But this…

If Hashirama, the man who rigorously trained me to do these things, cannot give any solidity to how deep in the shit pile we are, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to climb our way out.

I glance over at Madara. If he’s worried about this mess, he doesn’t show it on his face. But he’s smoked nearly half a pack of cigarettes in the past hour so he must be feeling something. I, myself, have smoked like a chimney since Gaara came back, but that has bought me nothing.

“I don’t fucking get it.” I slam my fist against the marble, head following as it sinks into my hands. I’m running my fingers so roughly against my scalp, I can feel follicles loosening. “I don’t see a fucking thing. We’ve been wrong about this so much.”

“I agree.” Gaara says, shaking his head. “If I had been here during the first big discovery, I wouldn’t have been able to contest anything. But now, after everything, I don’t see a pattern. It’s inconsistent.”

Hashirama leans forward, resting his chin on the backs of his hands. “I think it’s time we switched tactics.” He reaches into the pocket of his jacket, throwing a back of clear crystal shards onto the marble. I can feel my face flex, nervousness causing me to twitch, and change from frustrated to genuine shock. I tear my eyes from the bag, unconsciously balling my fists.

This is not what I need to see right now. An old vice, like the haggered woman who shows her face only to mock you when you’ve received injury. Methamphetamine. My darkest, lowest friend. “I feel like going on a meth binge right now wouldn’t exactly give us the paranoid delusional answer we seek.” My voice is harsher than I intend, but I feel a strain within my body, an urge. A want. I have to look him in the face to even properly begin to show my disgust.

Madara whistles, picking up the bag. “Well, well, I never thought I’d live to see this again.” 

“Naruto, you need to take this one for the team.” Hashirama’s voice is like velvet rubbing against your ears, and with such a delicate, reassuring tone…It lulls, tricks. He could be persuasive with just his voice alone.

But I’ve known this game long enough.

A voice is only as powerful as the man who holds it.

My jaw clenches. Sasuke, surprisingly, step forward, putting a hand on the small of my back, gently rubbing circles into it. I will myself to relax, if only slightly, and I can almost feel the palpable rage escaping me. His hand does not still. I wonder if he feel a deeper connection to me; there are bits and pieces of my story which he has consumed… “Sorry, I’m on the wagon. I haven’t shot, snorted, or smoked anything for almost three years.”

“Oh but fucking the copious amounts of men you allow yourself to manipulate sure does pass as a healthy alternative.” I blink, taken aback by Hashirama’s suddenly aggressive words. But much to my own pleasure, I don’t even flinch. They are angry words I’ve heard before. “It’s not what you think it is.”

“Look, if Naruto doesn’t wa-“ Madara grabs Sasuke’s arm. His heat leaving me immediately and a chill enters my veins, chilling my blood. I turn my head, about to retaliate but the way he looks at Sasuke signifies something much deeper than I think I understand.

“Sasuke, love, shut the fuck up. You, of all people, have no fucking _idea_ what you’re about to say.” He lets go of his wrist just in time to avoid Itachi’s sudden outburst. He swings a knife towards Madara’s wrist, leaning over the marble island, raising the blade towards Madara’s throat.

“Well, Uncle, then by all means, enlighten us.” Itachi just looks deadly. Like a maternal driven animal ready to die for their cubs. He reaches out to Sasuke, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, pulling him over to his side. My eyes never leave his face and I wonder just how vulnerable I must appear. His eyes are dark and deep as if he can just look through the crystal clearness of my own and see exactly the thoughts I wish to tell him. For solace, for guidance, for something I don’t know if he can give. He just nods.

That is enough for me.

I look back over at Madara, attempting to mask the urge which aches and prick at my blood and body. “Yes, enlighten us. If this isn’t meth, then what the fuck is it?”

Hashirama’s dark brown hair frames his face in such a way that he actually looks quite ominous, sitting there, staring back at us. Madara nods towards him. He takes the bag out of the Uchiha’s hand and holds it in front of us. “This, children, is called ‘Clairvoyant’. It was an experimental government produced drug that they created to enhance synaptogenesis in children, hoping, that with the creation of new synapses, they would mature more quickly mentally.” He jostles the bag, looking above me, not able to make eye contact. “The results were a complete failure. One in a thousand children lived, after one treatment.” He places the bag back down. “In adults, it creates a different effect, which is, that is has little to no effect. Because it creates new synapses, new connections and re-connections can potentially be reestablished in the brain.”

My brain whirls, trying to wrap my head over this concept. “So, what you’re saying is that you want me to take an experimental drug that may kill me, or have absolutely no effect?”

“You’ve taken this before.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Hashirama’s mood changes from stern to…Somewhat forlorn. “I was worried about you. When I found you, you were a seventeen year old, shitty, no-good, heroin addict. But, I saw so much potential in you that I couldn’t let you waste it…” His eyes are so focused on my face, finally giving me the eye contact he was avoiding. “Whenever you couldn’t get heroin, I’d give you a mix of this drug and meth, so you wouldn’t die of withdrawal and to protect your goddamn brain.”

“You were drugging me…” The words escape me, barely above a whisper as realization slowly sets a harsh beating in my chest. He could have killed me…

He could have…

“I was _protecting_ you.” Hashirama shakes his head. “Didn’t you ever think it was strange how your addiction never grew worse after coming to me? This drug...” He picks up the bag and shakes it, for effect. “It kept the tolerance from building.” He pauses, looking away. “I knew you’d never notice, the meth covers nearly all the effects of this drug, as far as the high. But if just gave you this, the withdrawal from heroin was still an issue. And I couldn’t have you strung out in psychosis either. You’d be even more useless than a nodding-out, waste.”

“Okay, okay, enough. I get it.” My mind is racing as I trace a path through the past. I’m trying to remember it. Anything that will tell me what he’s saying is true. “I fucking get it.”

I can’t find a connection.

Not to the past.

Not to the present.

But this drug, this synapse creating monstrosity could give us a key to understanding.  

Hashirama tosses the bag back across the marble. “If you really understand, you’ll also understand why this might be our best chance. You haven’t taken this for nearly three years, it could potentially build your brain right back up to where it was before you left.”

“But there’s still the chance it could _kill_ me.” 

Fear is not something so decrepit and old to me. It is still fresh and overwhelming in my mind. It accompanies me everywhere, nibbling gently at the still beating heart in my chest.

“Didn’t kill you before.”

If what he’s saying is true, if Hashirama isn’t lying to me…

Anxiety fills my blood as I reach out for the bag, holding it in my hands. They’re shaking. I try not to, but I can’t help but look at Hashirama again, swallowing hard. “What should I expect?”

“Like I said, there’s a chance it won’t work on you at all.” Hashirama says, shrugging. “You’re twenty three now. Your brain is fully developed. The reason why it was fatal in children is because of this developmental issue, creating all those new synapses caused overcrowding and mixed signals, even in places like the brainstem. But with adults, it’s far more efficient because of how established the connections are.” 

If he’s not lying to me, I might be able to get the boost we need. I might be able, all on my own, to have the brain power to crack this code, see things no one else can.

I let out a shaky breath. “My veins are shit.” I say it in as calm a way as possible. “I can’t get a needle in them. They’re pretty much all collapsed.”

Hashirama runs a hand through his hair. “I wouldn’t suggest parachuting. This shit will give you ulcer.” He bites his lip. “Snorting wouldn’t be a good idea either. Your nose will bleed quite a bit…”

Reaching into my pocket, I know exactly how I’m supposed to do this. I pull a cigarette out from the pack, removing a bit of tobacco. I can feel Sasuke’s eyes on me, and I look up at him, seeing that there’s a coolness to them, as if he’s encouraging me yet feeling a small reluctance of his own.

I think we both understand that there’s too much on the line to be reserved about this.

The crystals in the bag are easily smashed by the butt of my lighter, a horrifying reminder springing into my brain about all the drugs which fell to the superior, fire producing plastic. An intense urge grasps at me, whispering the sweet nothings of a life undone by sheer will-power. I am about to go back on everything I said I would stop doing.

“The first few seconds are going to be like an acid trip.” Hashirama says, making me feel, much, much worse about what I’m about to do.

“I didn’t like acid.” 

Madara smirks at me, chuckling. “Really? Too surreal for a man rooted in logic?”

I smile back. “No, it just that the experience becomes so disappointing when you realize that dragon you were talking to was actually a cabinet.” I shove the cigarette between my lips and hold the lighter steady as the paper begins to burn. I suck it all in, filling my lungs with dramatically toxic smoke. “One thing, though.” I say with a slight look over at Sasuke. “If I die without getting to tap that again, Hashirama, I’m haunting the fuck out of you.”

My pulse starts elevating, as the blood in my body feels thicker, beating, moving, slowly….

I…

Can…

See...

_Everything._

\---

**Sasuke’s POV**

I can see why this drug is not recommended for ingestion in a normal sense. The chemical smell alone stings my nostrils and comes off in a vaporous, white smoke. My eyes water slightly, holding off a cough. Naruto is breathing surprisingly well, which somehow, impresses me.

But then, the shift comes. Like lightning striking a tree in the distance, the smoke and fire clearing to reveal the marring.

Insanity is not something that I’m not used to seeing. I’ve watched plenty of people fall victim to the strangle hold it has on the mind. And in the few seconds after Naruto finishes his cigarette, I know, that there is something deeply disturbing and monstrous happening in his mind.

Naruto’s pupils dilate, eyes open so wide that they look like they’re about to rip free from his head. He takes a deep breath before moving into a fit of coughing. Stumbling for just a couple a seconds, he regains his composure. I can tell from the mechanical nature of his movements, he’s trying to keep himself focused.

His hands move so quickly, as he mutters to himself, thinking in such a horrendously fastidious way that none of us understand what he’s saying or why he’s writing anything down. He moves the letter, continue to write. Naruto’s face looks crazed; a wicked smile breaking across his lips as he picks to letters and begins again on the paper writing.

“Six…” He mutters. The veins around his forehead are pronounced, seemingly pulsating with every thought in his head. That alone, disturbs me. “Hundreds…No, no, less. Hundred maybe.” A strange urge to stop him takes up real estate in my heart but I know any interference now will lead to unrest for everyone.

We all know what’s at stake. Naruto, right now, is our martyr. The blood we spill for knowledge.

“No, no, less than four…” He stops writing, eyes wild as he scans the near incomprehensible scribbling. He looks at me, his lips moving with sound, none of which escapes his mouth. “More than two, more…Has to be. Has to…”

I look over at Hashirama, whose face looks morose, regretful and somewhat pale. “How long does this last?” I ask. He looks at my face, eyes still lukewarm, despite the coldness the room has taken on.

“About five to ten minutes.” He responds. “Not a lot of time, really.”

Naruto shushes us, not even bothering to look up from what he’s working on. My mouth seals in a line as I watch the madness of his overactive brain take a hold of him.

Minutes tick by slowly as he writes and writes and moves and fidgets. So far, from I can tell in the insanity of his words, he’s managed to figure out it's a three word sentence. But finding out how the words in that sentence are formed, is the actual challenge.

More time passes and I anxiously watch the clock, sweat dripping from my forehead.

It’s been about six minutes of this. He’s been writing non-stop. Papers are being thrown from the counter to the floor. And his muttering is now incredibly worrying silence. But he’s made progress. I can see it in his face. I can see it in his posture and the insanity seems to be leaving him.  

Then, he suddenly stops, the pen in his hand stilling as he steps back from what he’s currently writing. The look on his face is so calm, so collected, so unbelievably focused that I don’t exactly know how I could describe it.

His fingers look so fragile, delicate, as he goes back to the letters, arranging them slowly, methodically. He takes a few steps back, faltering in his steps. Naruto dashes for the sink, vomiting profusely. I rush to his side, rubbing his back and looking over my shoulder. Hashirama and Madara crowd around the letters, looking for the revelation.

“Oh.” Uncle’s words give me nothing. I look to Itachi, whose face is pensive, as if he does not understand what just happened, or the revelation we’ve been given.

“Impossible…” Hashirama’s voice is stilted, quiet in his throat.

“What?” I feel like I approached this calmly but I realize I’m shouting. Naruto pulls his head out of the sink, turning on the facet. “What does it say?”

“Go look.” Naruto’s voice is weak. His eyes peer into mine and he nods once, as if reaffirming some silent wish I had sent to him.

I walk over to Uncle, pushing him over slightly. He moves with little protest, reaching into his pocket and pulling out yet another cigarette. For the first time, I see his hands shake. My head turns slowly as I take in the three words Naruto managed to pull out of a drug induced brain-burst.

_“Kaguya is back”_

Confusion twists my tongue and cause words to live in my throat but die as they reach the tip of my tongue. What is that supposed to mean?

Naruto wanders over to where I’m standing, blinking, looking as though he’s about to pass out. “So, now that we’ve figured out this little mystery, I suppose I should ask the question burning in everyone’s minds.” He coughs, dry heaving slightly. I reach out to him but he holds up a hand, shaking his head. “I’m cool, I’m cool.” He breaths out slowly. “So, who the fuck is Kaguya?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madara and Hashirama relive their pasts and provide exposition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, but this chapter is going to be very dialogue heavy, mostly because Madara and Hashirama are going to be talking through it and going on tangents because that's what you do when you're old. Anyway, I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter.

Faintly in the distance I can hear Bee moaning, Gaara sighs and delegates himself to seeing what’s happening. He walks through the hallway and into the room Bee is occupying. “If they talk, fill me in.” Gaara says simply to me. I nod, looking up from the sink.

I wash my mouth out with water, spitting the contents back into the sink. It’s still acrid with the taste of my own vomit and the smokiness of cigarettes. Not the most appealing combo, but until I got some gum or mouth wash, I could live with it. I glance over to where Madara and Hashirama were having their private pow-wow. After the big reveal, both of them huddled off into a corner of the kitchen, just talking to each other. It annoys me. From their reactions alone, it’s clear that this is something way bigger than what it started out to be. We all needed this information.

We need to know where to start.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Sasuke’s face is crinkled with worry. He hasn’t left my side since I vomited. Butterflies and nausea hit me together as he rubs the small of my back, the gentleness of his hand forcing through the tightness of my back. I’m not used to someone caring for me this much.

“Yes, Sasuke. Pinky promise.” I make sure to look at him in the face, right in the eye. Make him trust me, trust in my words. In reality, however, I don’t actually know if I’m okay. But I’ve played these games long enough to know how to hide my sickness from others. “It just gave me really bad vertigo.”

“Considering the worst side effect is death, vertigo isn’t too bad.” Hashirama comments, finally coming back to the kitchen island. He smiles, but it’s already on the verge of faltering. The sides of his mouth are twitching and his eyes are too wide. His skin is pale, looking sickly. We’ve stumbled on a landmine, obviously.

“Hn, private meeting over already?” Itachi sends an annoyed look over at Madara.

“I don’t need any of your bullshit right now, Itachi.” He brushes Itachi off like he’s nothing. He tries pulls a cigarette out of his pack but just stares down into the box, realizing it’s empty. He actually looks kind of sad. “Fuck me.” Hashirama winks at him and Madara just glares, knowing too well that he just set himself up for a trap. “If you say what I think you’re about to, even just have it linger on your breath, Hashirama, your face will play patty-cake with my fist.”

“You take the fun out of everything.” Hashirama slumps down in a chair, frowning. Madara sat down next to him, running a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “Well, after long debate, we’ve decided on what’s important to know…”

“Why can’t you just tell us the full story?” I question, crossing my arms over my chest. “I think I deserve that much.”

“Do you really want to sit through thirty-eight years of bullshit?”

“This has been a problem for _that_ long?”  

“Well, no…Yes? I don’t know. What do you think, Madara?” Hashirama turned to seek Madara’s answers and he shrugged.

“It didn’t really become a problem until we were eighteen. But it doesn’t mean we didn’t encounter her before that; we’ve had plenty of dealings with her through the years. We met her when we were twelve and ever since then, she’s been a perpetual shadow, following us around.” Madara sits back in the chair, sighing. “We just thought she was dead. For nearly twenty-five years, we thought it.”

“You didn’t check?” Itachi looks skeptical. “I’m pretty sure one of the very first things you pounded into my skull was always check for a kill. ‘Always confirm a kill, Itachi. You don’t want a dead man knocking on your door.’”

Madara frowned. “The entire _building_ was on _fire_. We thought if a bullet didn’t kill her, the flames or smoke definitely would. They found a female body in the building, we thought it was hers.”

“Makes me wonder who it actually was…” Hashirama comments, nodded his head.

I blink, trying to process the drop of information from their vast pools of knowledge. “So, she’s trying to kill you guys because you tried to kill her?”

“She started it.” Hashirama says, in an almost child-like fashion. He even crossed his arms over his chest, pouting slightly. “She’s a main part of the reason Madara and I aren’t married right now.” My eyes narrow; I don’t bother to hide my skepticism. 

“Besides problems with legality and the fact that Hashirama still has a wife.” Madara adds, sending a look over. “How is Mito?”

“Wouldn’t know.” Hashirama is smiling brightly. “We’re legally separated; have been for almost two years now.”

“Don’t smile at me like that,” Madara pushes a dark strand of hair out of his face, showing the full paleness of his face, even in the dim light. Deep down, I know Madara is wickedly handsome, just like the other Uchiha in the room. But damn is he crazy. “The _last_ time you and your wife were ‘legally separated’,” Madara puts air quotes around his words as he turns towards Hashirama, “I got my own cat’s head in the mail because someone's adulterous husband, who, for the sake of shame, will remain anonymous, couldn’t keep his hands to himself.” Madara’s eyes were bright with an unvoiced anger, making them shine. “I also got, the next day, a really beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card that read ‘sorry for your loss.’.”

Hashirama bursts out laughing, slapping his hands down on the marble. His face reddens, wheezing and coughing. He holds his side and slaps Madara on the shoulder. “Oh, I thought you weren’t afraid of my wife?”

“I’m really no more afraid of your wife than I was when I was sixteen.” Madara says, a wicked smile on his lips. “Besides, I’ve moved since then.” Hashirama starts laughing again, trying to pull Madara in for an awkward hug. He pushes and shoves his way out of it, straightening his jacket. “Now then, shall we continue?”

“I don’t know how a story about Kaguya will top hearing about my wife sending you a head.”

“I’ll try to make it as entertaining as possible.” Madara says, simplistically. “But I suppose we do need to start a bit from the beginning. It’ll make a little more sense.” He let out a breath, running a hand through his hair, looking over at Hashirama. “When Hashirama and I were children, the Senju and Uchiha families were in the midst of a feud. And let me tell you, I used to have siblings; there were five of us. I’m an only child now; to put this all into perspective.”

“I lost two brothers.” Hashirama comments. “The youngest at the time being nine.”

“Nine?” My eyes open wide as I hear that. “They had _children_ fighting in a mafia war?”  

Together, Hashirama and Madara just exchange a glance, shrugging. “One thing you must remember is the selfishness of adults. Sometimes the price of one’s masculinity and strength is measured by how you hurt your enemies; how you break them. It was disgusting.” Madara sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, chewing it. He isn’t looking at us, but down at the marble counter. “But that was the reality of how we were raised, how we were controlled. We were children, afraid that we’d be murdered by adults. Or worse, by other children.” Madara pauses, looking at me directly in the eye. “But that is a moral lesson for next time, perhaps.”

“There was a neutral zone, that wasn’t very neutral, between our respective territories. That zone belonged to Kaguya.” Hashirama picks up the story, leaning back in his chair. “That’s also where Madara and I met; we couldn’t tell each other our last names, so we lived in a world of half-truths. But-“

“But,” Madara cut in, frowning at Hashirama in a stern manner, “that’s not important to the story.”

“Sure it is. I was about to talk about when my dad almost gutted you.”

“Ah yes, twelve year-old trauma at it’s finest.”     

“Anyway, so one day when Madara and I were meeting, our fathers were about to go full out bloodbath, no survivors showdown—which—both of us were present for. Madara had a knife to his throat, I had a gun aimed at me. It got real.” I feel like Hashirama shouldn’t as animatedly happy about explaining his childhood brush with death.

“I really thought I was going to die that day.” Madara says.

“I was surprised my dad hesitated.”

“He hesitated to monologue; the mark of a true villain.”

“But then Kaguya comes up and is all like ‘oh, what are you doing on my pier?’”

“Maybe I should tell the story.” Madara says, shaking his head.

“Why?” Hashirama pouts and the Uchiha just raises his eyebrow, completely unaffected.

“You make it sound stupid, like you.”

“You’re so mean! You really haven’t changed at all since we were in high school!”

“Anyway,” Madara turns back towards us, completely ignoring the sullen Hashirama next to him. And unsurprisingly, Hashirama’s sullen attitude is unattractive in a man his age. No fifty year old should pout like a depressed child. “Kaguya took a quick liking to us; for what reason, we were not sure at the time. We found out later it was because we reminded her of her sons.” Which, from what I can tell, means they both are probably dead. Good; the less men to fight, the easier this should be. “She didn’t approach us for some time after that incident, but when she did, it was to make sure we were actually proving ourselves worthy of our names. To make sure we both were good fighters.”

“And boy did we show her.” Hashirama adds. “Madara put a knife right through some unlucky bastard’s head.”

“You crushed a guy’s head in with a dumpster lid. Forgive me for having a certain elegance to my massacres.” Madara breaths out his nose, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the marble. “Anyway, once we proved ourselves, she sent us messages saying that she wanted us to abandon our families and join her. But we had to do something for her first, to prove our loyalty.”

“Let me guess, kill someone she didn’t like that you had an affiliation with so it would be some kind of moral situation.” I ask, eyeing the Uchiha. “Probably someone in your family?”

He smirks widely at me. “Now you’re thinking like a criminal mastermind.”  

“Who was it?” Sasuke questions, crossing his arms over his chest. I look at how stoic and striking his profile is, the way that his eyes are completely engrossed with Madara’s face. He’s studying it, watching; for what, I’m unsure, but I can see there is a calculation in his eye. It’s unbelievably sexy.

Madara smiles. “Yet another story for another time, perhaps.”

“Did you do it?” Itachi is leaning his face on the palm of his hand, looking mildly uninterested, yet attentive all at the same time. He doesn’t seem as focused on Madara, but rather, from the shifting of his glances, more on Sasuke's reactions. Perhaps there is a reason we don’t know for it. Maybe Itachi does know some of this story already. There’s no way to tell for sure.

“Of course.” Hashirama sighs, running a large, tan hand through his hair. With the dark locks away from his face, I can see the sleeplessness of his features; dark bags forming. He’s obviously been far more tortured about these events than I could possibly know. “It was our only real choice at that moment. We didn’t know what else to do…Something needed to change.”

Was it his…

Yes, I believe so. No wonder they don’t want to talk about it then.

“After that, Madara and I assumed respective control over our mafia factions and in one decision, we disbanded them.”

“What?” Sasuke surprises me by speaking, I glance over at him. His face is pensive. “Why would you do that?”

“Only way to fully assure no more violence would exist between our families; so younger generations of Uchihas and Senjus wouldn’t have to throw their lives into a murder machine. It was a difficult change at first, but in thirty years, the Uchiha family adapted well. They were grateful; it’s a relief to be finally put down your burden, baby.” 

“Madara and I had big dreams when we were children,” It’s in the way he looks at Madara that makes my heart leap up a notch. There’s such admiration, such love in his eyes. It’s in the way his touch is light and gentle, like Madara is made of glass, even though he’s just pushing a strand of hair behind Madara’s ear. And for a very brief moment, the Uchiha’s eyes shine just as brightly. But then, as Madara strong arms Hashirama out of his chair, it’s gone. From the floor, Hashirama says, “but we both knew it wouldn’t be easy.” He gets up, frowning at the Uchiha next to him. “Sacrifices needed to be made, so Madara and I joined Kaguya as her lieutenants.” He gets his chair back up, sitting down. I bite back a laugh at the evil eye, which is not nearly as scary as an Uchiha’s, he sends Madara's way. “At first, everything was perfect.”

“Naruto, give me a cigarette.” Madara says suddenly. I blink at the command, reaching into my pocket compelled without thinking. His tone is harsh, but there’s something almost…Forlorn about it. I toss the pack to him and he immediately gets up, retreating through the archway. We’re all silent.

“Are you ever going to forgive me?” The question catches me off-guard because Hashirama is looking at me, but I can tell it isn’t for me. But it still feels so out of place, like we’ve all stumbled into some territory we were never meant to go.

“How can I forgive you for something that wasn’t your fault?” And with that, the door slams behind Madara.

“What is he talking about?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. Hashirama runs his hands over his face, pulling them away with a lot of force.

“This is the part of the story Madara doesn’t like. And trust me, you’ll know exactly why Madara doesn’t like it when I explain it.” He straightens up in his chair. “Remember earlier when Madara said he had four brothers?” I nod. “Well, one of his brothers was still living at this point, his youngest brother, Izuna.” He licks his lips. “Izuna and my younger brother, Tobirama, followed us when we left to join Kaguya. Like I said, at first, everything was perfect. But then, something changed. It was so sudden and so subtle, I never saw it coming. And neither did Madara…My brother did something very personal against Madara, something that cannot be forgiven…”

Slowly, my eyes go wide as I look into Hashirama’s face. “He didn’t…”

“Oh, but Naruto, he did.”

“What did he do?” Sasuke looks a little bewildered, but not from confusion, but from a sense of dread spreading through the room. It’s reaching upwards and dragging us all slowly into it. Not a single soul in the room needs an explanation in full to get a clear picture of what happened. It’s like Sasuke asked out of curtesy, like there was some other answer but the truth. But I can sense it, the horrifying smell of the truth rotting. My stomach lurches, heavy with a crushing sympathy as Hashirama looks away from us; he’s trying to hide the regret, the anger, and definitely the sadness in his features.

“I guess it’s akin to living your deepest and most dreadful nightmare; a dream you can’t wake up from because it’s your own reality. So that night, when Madara had to come face to face with the fear, the one he had been building since childhood…It nearly broke him.” Hashirama still hadn’t turned back to look at us. “I can still remember the flurry that came afterwards, the screaming, the tears, the complete and utter anguish. And just…This feeling of swallowing hot rocks and how it gushes around in your stomach because the realization of just how bad things got was too much to handle…” Finally, Hashirama cocks his head to look back into our prying eyes. “And I couldn’t do a damn thing to help him. He was too lost in his own storm of emotions…”

“You know,” Hashirama eyes Sasuke, staring into his face, observingly. “You look a lot like him. Izuna, I mean.” Sasuke’s eyes widen slightly from the admission and I send my gaze towards his face. “Maybe your lips aren’t as full and your hair isn’t as long, but God, do you look like him.” He chuckles lightly, smiling in a way that drives a cool blade through my heart. “If I hadn’t known your father was Fugaku, I would have definitely thought you were Izuna’s son. No question.”

We are all silent as we sit in the room together, a sickening quell of pity and sadness brewing all between us. We may not show it on our faces, but I can feel it bubbling up beneath each of our surfaces. But somehow, I feel like I’ve gotten dirty information; that what I’ve heard isn’t pure because it’s not from the source itself. I now know more about Madara than I ever thought was necessary to understand him. But, just like so many before him and many to follow, he was shoved through a mold, cracked and fractured out of it; his experience shaping and disfiguring him into the man he is. I shudder at the thought. How would he be if that never happened? But questions such as that are pointless to ask because there is no basis to really judge them. They are all rooted in the realms of ‘what if’, an emotional rampage of us trying to idealize someone who can never actually be perfected. You can cover a crack, but it will always be there.

“It was only natural at that point that Madara would want revenge. As many emotionally charged people would. And I’m not saying he is wrong for wanting it, I just don’t think revenge fulfills the hearts needs as well as we would like it too.” Hashirama shrugs. “But that doesn’t mean we weren’t ready to finish it by any means necessary.” Pensively, he looks into all of our faces, scanning them. For what, I am unsure. Perhaps he’s worried we’re judging him for his decisions, but no one in this space really has room to cast any judgment on anyone else. We all have our decision demons; we live with our choices. “We found out that the order came from higher up; I was in charge of filing, which, looking back, I think she wanted us to know what she did…She wanted us to challenge her so she could fully assert her dominion over us, to let us know there was no force greater. But she miscalculated our willingness to rebel. So, we set the plan, pretended like it didn’t affect us. And then one night, after a particularly brutal show, we decided it couldn’t wait a single moment longer. It was a bloody, but short fight. And when we thought it was over, we burned down the compound, figuring if she survived her wounds, she wouldn’t survive the inferno.”

“So, let me see if I got all of this straight.” I say, looking at Hashirama. “Kaguya is trying to kill you now for revenge because you got vengeance against her.”

“Basically.”

“An eye for an eye. Oldest motivation in the book.” Madara says as he walks through the archway. “Why she would wait so long for it, however, is the real question. She was in her fifties at the time and now she’s got to be in her late seventies, early eighties.”

“Maybe now she’s actually dying.” Sasuke surmises. His gaze won’t leave Madara’s face and the oldest Uchiha doesn’t raise his eyes to make contact between them.

Madara shrugs. “Could be that. Or she was waiting for Hashi and I to mess with the wrong people so she could persuade them. We aren’t as spry as we used to be; we surround ourselves with young people who do everything for us.” Madara sits back down, pushing a stray lock of hair from his face. His face is set in stone, not showing an ounce of emotion. He must have overheard something, but he won’t let it sink through his features. Even his eyes which are usually vivid with an underlying rage have been cooled. “I shouldn’t have to say that she is likely to be the one who got the transfer taken care of. She must have met Obito somewhere, or learned about him somehow. Same with Nagato.”

Itachi stands suddenly, knocking his chair over behind him. He reaches the sink in the blink of an eye and starts vomiting. I flinch at the sound, my stomach not feeling its strongest and fight back the urge to push him out of my way to join him in the sink. Madara is on his feet in a moment, meeting Sasuke at Itachi’s back. He watches, eyes void as Sasuke rubs Itachi’s back. He’s saying something gently to Itachi that I can’t quite make out. Madara pushes a lock of hair out of Itachi’s face and looks down thoughtfully. “I think this is the sign that we should probably retire for the evening.” Madara looks around the room, eyes locking with Kisame. He stands up. “Make sure he’s taken care of properly.”

After a moment of silence, Kisame picks Itachi up effortlessly and carries him off, passing Gaara in the archway. “What did I miss?”

“Vomiting and a revenge tragedy.” I reply, crossing my arms. I feel more queasy than I did before, the smell slowing perfuming the room, even though Sasuke has finished rinsing the sink.

“Very Shakespearian.”

“Yes. Basically all you need to know is this Kaguya person is out for revenge because they avenged Madara’s brother.”

“Titus Andronicus, then.” Gaara remarks and I chuckle, smiling at him.

“Maybe without the pie baking part, but yes, I would say so.” My smile falters. “How’s Bee?”

Gaara let’s out an exasperated sigh. “He tore one of his stitches and was drunkenly trying to fix it himself.”

“Should I re-suture it?”

The red head shakes his head. “No, I got it done. He fell back asleep, and hopefully, he won’t do anything stupid while he’s out.”

“Well if he does, I’ll be upstairs. Just come and get me.” Gaara nods and heads back to the room where Bee is. Sasuke puts a hand on my shoulder; a heated press of his fingers. I turn, looking at his face. He’s stupidly gorgeous. I don’t think I’ll be able to get over just how fucking beautiful Sasuke is. And he’ll be this good-looking for a long time if Madara is the model for comparison.

“Let’s go to bed.”

“God, look how smooth your kid is. He got those bed room eyes nailed.” Hashirama mutters.

Sasuke and I both turn to look at them, Madara smirks at us, wiggling his eyebrows. “It is in the Uchiha’s genes to be a superior partner.”

“I really don’t like how they talk about us as if we aren’t here or that we can’t hear them.” I comment and Sasuke shrugs.

“I’m used to this. Itachi and Madara would talk about me like this all the time.”

“What would they talk about?”

“How cute I was.”

“Do you want to see a picture? Sasuke, now, is almost disgustingly handsome, but he was also a grossly cute child.” Madara pulls his wallet out of his coat. “Look at him, Hashi, he’s so cute. What happened?”

Hashirama glances over Madara’s shoulder, laughing. “Wow, you weren’t kidding.”

Of course by this point my curiosity is peaked. Through my investigations with the bureau, I’d seen pictures of Itachi throughout the years, whenever they were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him. But they had practically nothing on Sasuke since he was assumed dead. My mouth twitches but I swallow the smile. I wander over, Madara handing me the photo. Sasuke was in Madara’s arms, Sasuke’s short arms wrapped around Madara’s neck loosely. They’re standing in a backyard somewhere. Sasuke was looking directly into the camera, eyes bright and wide; a large smile on his face. Madara was smiling too, but more thoughtfully, gazing at Sasuke’s profile.

“You look like such a proud mommy in this picture Madara.” Hashirama teases, kissing the Uchiha on the cheek. He responds with a glare.

I can feel Sasuke moving to stand behind me. I glance over my shoulder at him and he’s frowning. I want to laugh because I can tell he’s a little embarrassed but instead I turn around, holding his face in my hands. “You were so precious.”

“I’m still a little upset you never told me you had a second child.” Hashirama says with a frown.

“Need to know basis, sorry. And you didn’t need to know.”

“I should have assumed, really. I knew Itachi had a brother.”

Madara shrugged. “I was just as surprised as you were that Itachi brought Sasuke with him. But, considering how many shitheads exist in the family, it also made the most sense.”

“Why didn’t Itachi kill you?” I ask suddenly. Even I’m surprised by my own question. I could feel three sets of eyes on me; a chill running through my spin, like someone dumping water on me. I watch Sasuke’s face and he just looks at me, completely calm.

“Itachi loves me. It’s really that simple.”

“You know kid,” I turn to face Madara, who’s looking up at Sasuke’s face. “The Feds think they have Itachi all figured out, but in reality they know nothing about him. It’s why they haven’t been able to catch him. Even with you, they haven’t got shit.” Madara smirks at me, eyes shining softly in the rising sunlight. “Only believe half of what you see, and nothing of what you hear, when it comes to Itachi.” Hashirama touches Madara’s shoulder, causing the Uchiha to turn. They look into each other’s eyes, very briefly, communicating something. “Now, children, off to bed. Later we’ll speak of a game plan.”

Sasuke grabs onto my arm and pulls me from the kitchen. I follow him, contemplating everything that’s happened since I woke up, not realizing we burned through a day like it was nothing. Heaving a sigh, I start up the stairs, watching Sasuke’s muscular back as he leads me to his bedroom. With the mystery of the notes solved, the only thing left to do now is figure out a game plan, find the opposing operation, and take it down. Which, honestly, is not a simple task.

I walk to his bathroom, eyeing the mouthwash on the sink, smiling to myself that I can get some relief.  
\---

**Sasuke’s POV (finally)**

Today has been more than exhausting.

I toss a glance over to Naruto; he’s washing his mouth out, far more thoroughly than before. He spits the blue liquid into the sink, looking up at himself in the mirror. He rubs his temples, appearing far more relaxed than he actually is. His face is paler than normal and his eyes are bloodshot, but he’s still trying to seem just as energetic and spunky as he was when we first met. It’s to reassure me, I’m sure, but I know the truth, just like everyone else.

I walk in behind him. He doesn’t turn to look at me, instead he straightens up, letting me wrap my arms around him. We stare into the mirror together, our eyes meeting there. “What was it like?” He blinks sighing to himself.

“Honestly, it was pretty weird.” Naruto reaches up, taking my hands into his. “It was like everything had slowed down and I had an infinite amount of time to just sit and think. Like my brain just linked everything together, spinning threads to places in my mind I never thought to look.”

“How did you figure it out?”

“Well, with only twelve letters, it narrowed it down to the basics.” He explains, bringing my hands up to his lips and giving them gentle kisses. “Think about it, what do you need to make a sentence?”

“Subject, verb. Unless it’s a command.”

“Exactly. So I knew it had to be at least two words, but no more than four.”

“Hn, but what about the sequencing?”

“Well, that was what I spent most of my time on…” Naruto smiles sheepishly. “’is’ and ‘back’ weren’t the troublesome part. I figured out that it had to be a name of some kind and only one sequence of the six remaining letters would give me an actual name.” Naruto runs his fingers down my arms, still gazing in the reflections. “What was weird though is that the sequence for the name was always there…Always in Madara’s letter. We managed to jumble it up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s strangely convenient.”

Naruto shrugs. “If Madara’s had the name alone, it has to mean something or it means nothing. Either way, we needed all the notes to make sense of it. But there are so many other questions…”

“Like what?”

Naruto ignores me, heading down a different train of thought. “I think Hashirama fed us a line of bullshit about how that miracle drug recreates synaptogenesis. To freak us out and make him look cool.”

I chuckle, wrapping my arms around tighter. “Why's that, I wonder?”

“Because the only time you go through massive synaptogenesis is when you’re still in the womb. Then, you go through pruning after everything is developed. I mean, I’m not saying new connections aren’t made all the time, but I don’t think it made a bunch of new neurons.”

“Guess we can’t know for sure.”

“I’m fairly certain my head would have exploded if that were the case.”

“That would have been unfortunate.” I say, leaning in, trailing kisses up his neck. He smirks at me, looking into my eyes through our reflections.

“Sasuke, what are you thinking right now?” I blink, slightly unprepared for the question.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to do think.” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “There so much information whizzing around, I don’t know what’s important to grab onto.”

“Yeah…” He sighs turning around in my arms. He places his forearms on my shoulders, his breath reeking of mint.

“And what about you?”

He smirks at me, rubbing a thumb along my cheek. “Just how beautiful you are.”

I roll my eyes and he chuckled, that heady, lusty chuckle that makes my heart thump. “Anything else?”

“Oh, I have many, many thoughts.” He says. His hands are running through my hair, gently rubbing circles into my scalp. The magnetism of his body attracting me, pulling me in and holding me mercilessly. I brush against his nose, my mouth hovering above his. Our lips are close, but not close enough to make full contact. “I mostly think we need more information, which, I know seems impossible at this point.”

“I’ll have to take notes, obviously.” Naruto laughs at that comment, leaning up to kiss me.

“You’re a funny man, Uchiha Sasuke.” The absence of his lips makes me want more.

“I have many talents.” The hot air between our mouths leaves me open with longing. There’s something about Naruto that makes me crave for him. We’ve had sex; I’ve fucked him senseless, but this closeness is different that the heated rutting and satisfaction of animal desires. This is intimacy, even on its most basic level.

“Yes, I saw one of your talents today. I was impressed, you know.” He speaks the words around my mouth, not closing the distance between them. “It’s good to know that you’ve been trained.”

I grab onto his wrists, forcing my weight into him, pinning him against the sink. He huffs, eyes wild with both surprise and lust. He smiles wickedly at me. “You afraid?” My lips trail down his neck. I peel them back so the bluntness of my teeth can drag at his skin; his breath hitches. “You’re a predator too. But what does it feel like to be pinned by another man who’s just as dangerous?”

“You tell me.” Naruto quickly breaks out of the hold I have on his wrists, distracting me enough not to notice the leg he’s slipped around mine. I sink down on one knee and he pushes his weight down on me, forcing me to lay on my back, his chest pressing into mine. His bright blue eyes gleam with both excitement and some heated satisfaction as he holds me down. He licks his lips. “Wanna know what else I was thinking?” He grinds into me, leaning into to capture my bottom lip with his teeth.

“Oh, I have an idea.” I can feel adrenaline and desire burning through my veins as I glance up into his face. Our teeth clack when he kisses me, a mix of passion and the urge to dominate causing my heart to soar. Mistakenly, he lessens the grip on my wrists, running his hands down my chest instead, getting distracted. I flip us easily and he chuckles, wrapping his legs around my waist, pulling me closer to him, suffocating me with the strength of his body.

“Both of you stop.” Both of us turn towards the door, seeing Itachi walking into the room. Kisame obviously couldn’t keep him contained. He seems sober; or at least more so than earlier. He sits down on my bed and I scowl at him, eyes boring into his face. He just sticks his tongue out at me, flopping down on the mattress.

“I was just getting into it, too.” Naruto pouts. I kiss away his dissatisfaction, causing him to smile at me even though I can tell he doesn’t want to. “We could always have sex on Itachi’s back.”

“Do you want to get stabbed?” Itachi asks, looking up from the blankets.

“I’ve already been stabbed by you.” He replies, rolling under me. My cock aligns with his ass and my desire for him spikes, especially when he starts to arch underneath me, teasing me with his body. He’s doing it on purpose, I’m sure.

“I’ll do it right this time.” He glares at the two of us. “Quit complaining and come to bed. You should consider yourself lucky, Naruto, that I’m willing to share Sasuke with you so easily.”

Naruto stops moving, resting his chin on his palm. I sink my nose into his hair, smelling my shampoo in the blond locks from when he showered earlier. A possessive urge flies through my blood and I want more of him; no, I need more of him. All of it. The whole experience. He moans quietly, shivering from my touches. “Itachi, please get out.”

“No way. You two have already had sex three times today.” Itachi shakes his head, looking at me. He bats his long lashes at me, going for the move he knows I can’t resist. “Besides, I got stabbed, feel sympathy for me.”

“Sympathy for a devil, ridiculous.” Naruto mutters and I laugh, blowing hot air against his scalp. But I know Itachi will fight tooth and nail to keep Naruto and me from consummating. I frown, getting off of the blond. He whines but grabs my hand, with a reluctant pout on his lips when I pull him off the floor. Today, Itachi wins. Tomorrow, I will be far less sympathetic about him being stabbed, probably…    

“So magical profiler, what do you think of our situation?”

Naruto hums thoughtfully as he gets into my bed. For now, I am the barrier between Itachi and Naruto, both of which seem unhappy that the other is in the bed. But somehow, both of their discontent with the other, makes me feel a wave of good humor. “Well, I think there’s way more than they’re telling us. I mean they did skirt right over certain details. But that story would have been so long if they hadn't…Kept everything in.”

Itachi rests his head on my shoulder. “I agree but that’s not the real difficulty. I don’t think they know as much as we need them to, about her. If they were skirting over her details, it could be that they don’t know more than what they told.”

“You make an interesting point.” Naruto reaches into his pocket. He types something into the phone and places it on the side table. “Well, let’s hope my plant will get something for us.”

I can feel Itachi shift behind me, forcing an arm underneath my head, curling it against my shoulders. “Tell me something.”

“Something.”

Itachi and I both smirk, I can feel his good humor and annoyance radiating out of his body. Naruto smiles warmly at the two of us, knowing he's making an ass out of Itachi just for the sake of fun. "In earnest, please."

"Fine, fun-sucker." 

“Can we actually trust you?”

Naruto smirks, lying flat on his back. He’s looking up into the ceiling. “I wonder about that too.”

I raise an eyebrow as Naruto rolls to face us; he looks calm. “Are you supposed to be working for the Feds right now?”

“Technically, I never did bring in Itachi, so I guess you could say that. They know who I am and where I live so that’s a problem right there.” Naruto’s face softens. “People like me, we always look for a clean slate, no matter the costs. We fuck up so much that when we're given an opportunity, we just..." He reaches out, as if grasping for the light from the bulb. "Grasp at it and never let go. But sometimes, that price is a little too steep for us to reach." He sets his arm back down across his chest. "I may have found Itachi and you, and I have enough dirt on both Hashirama and Madara to send them away, but would I sell you all for my own self-preservation?” Naruto laughs suddenly, shaking his head. “The problem with the Feds is that they are bound to fuck you over, no matter how hard you work for them. So instead, why not play a few games with them?”

“So you’re giving them false information?" Itachi gently begins to pet my scalp, sending a warm feeling through my body. He's relaxing himself, I can tell.

“I actually haven’t given them shit. It took me a while to track you down the first time, why not let them think I’m having similar problems this time?” He looks at me and then at Itachi. “Besides, the people I’ve been asking about tend to be off the Feds’ radar. Eventually, they’ll figure out I was just using them, they’ll never know for what. The reason they needed me in the first place is because I don’t just see what’s in front of me, but what’s around it.” He folds his arms behind his head. He looks oddly serene, his face gaining a sleepy and distant quality to it. With the faint light from the rising sun coming through my window, he looks so breath-taking. Like a creature never meant for our world. “Looking for Itachi and can’t find him? Track his partner. It was really that simple, took a while, but it was easier.” Naruto and Itachi lock gazes and I can feel a sudden shift in the mood around the room. Naruto looks away first. “However, that is not how they knew I did it; kept that secret to myself.” Naruto smirks at me. “They were actually thinking I should try and track you down, Sasuke.” I’m slightly taken aback by this, my eyes widening.

“I thought I was labelled ‘dead’.”

“They never found your body.” Itachi supplies.

“Itachi is right. Legally, that means you’re still missing. But in most cases, the Feds and police will undoubtedly think that you’re dead if you haven’t been found within a week. They probably thought you were dead the moment they knew you weren’t in the house with your parents.” Naruto shrugs. “I thought you were dead, or if you weren’t, you’d be in hiding with absolutely no real means of defending yourself, which basically means that if Itachi was after you, you'd be dead.” He stares up at the ceiling again, running a hand through his hair. “The only reason they thought you were alive was because they found Itachi’s calling card in the city. Thought maybe he was tracking you down.” 

I can feel Itachi’s eyes on me, his gaze narrowing as I turn to look him in the face. I force a sheepish smile and he shakes his head at me. “You’re getting sloppy Otouto.”

Naruto freezes next to us, turning to look us both in the face. His eyes are wide with something akin to realization and panic at the same time. I can’t fight my smirk when he focuses in on my face. “You…both?”

“Every Uchiha rose has a torn somewhere.” Itachi smirks at him. I can tell from the look on Naruto's face that he’s trying to figure us out. To him, I don’t have a reason to kill like Itachi; my hands should be pristine like crystal, not dripping with crimson stains.

“Hm, so there really was a copy-cat.” Naruto’s lips quirk. “Oh, but I wonder what the Feds would be able to do with that information.” 

It’s like sharing a link, something I thought I could only do with Itachi. It can be expressed in a look, with a tone of voice, or just with simple body language. I’m connected to Naruto now and I can see the mischief and excitement in his eyes. Itachi chuckles darkly behind us. "Yes, I wonder myself." Itachi kisses me gently on the temple. "But perhaps we will find out another night. It's time to sleep now, my love." 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, the morning after, it's not as simple as we hope it'll be. Naruto learns this the hard way when all the attention is turned on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than my usual, but it's still funny i swear ;-; and, finally, the plots moving on a little more. I hope you enjoy. Starts with Sasuke's POV

I wake to the suddenness of shifting weight, cracking open my eyes. Naruto is standing next to the nightstand, looking a little disheveled and scrolling through his phone. He yawns, turning towards me. I can feel Itachi stirring behind me, groaning against my scalp. Naruto leans over and gives me a gentle kiss on the nose. “Good morning, beautiful brothers.” Itachi grabs onto me tightly, shifting uncomfortably behind me. He’s hungover from last night and it’s not a wonder why; with how much he drank, I’m surprised he’s even awake.

“Are you going to live, Aniki?” I tease and he shoots me a weak glare, frowning at me.

“Naruto, would you be a dear and grab me so aspirin from the bathroom?” Itachi asks in a dried voice. He rolls away from me, laying on his back. Naruto disappears into the other room as I scoot from my spot and head into the bathroom with him. I place my hand on his hip, leaning around him to open the top drawer.

“Usually people keep medicine in their medicine cabinet.” He says, with a small smile. We stand together for a moment, his back pressed into my chest giving me time to smell his hair. I bury my nose against his scalp and he weaves his fingers into my open hands. “Your brother is _fucked_ up.” He laughing gently and I join him. Itachi in a pitiful state is rare and it’s adorable for a man his age.

“He’s so pitiful, I just want to put him in my pocket.”

“Dare I say, Uchiha Itachi is a little cute when he’s not so…Inexplicably evil.”

“But not as cute as me, right?” Naruto laughs, wrapping his arms around my neck.

“Couldn’t even come close.” We kiss very briefly, our lips meeting and breaking apart in chaste touches. Knowing Itachi is in the other room and willing to throw the biggest hungover fit of the century, this won’t go far. But I savor in every single gentle touch. Its intimacy, I know, but that sweetness will only make the moments richer. And prime for taking.

“Would the two of you stop making out?” I pop my head out of the door and Itachi is lying face down in the middle of the bed, which means no one else can go back to sleep if they want to. I grab the glass by the sink, filling it halfway before returning to my side. “I could have died while you were canoodling with your boyfriend.”

“You’re being awfully dramatic this morning.” I say, handing him the pills.

“Circumstance requires me to be dramatic otherwise how will I annoy you?” Itachi replies, sitting up. He swallows them with a large gulp of water, sitting completely stoically for about all of two seconds. In his rush to the bathroom, he not only shoves me, but also Naruto out of the way before slamming the door. Both of are left with sounds of retching and silence.

“Well, as fun as this all was, do you wanna ditch your brother and see what’s going on downstairs?”

“Absolutely.”

We head down, voices rising more and more as we get closer to the kitchen. I see that Uncle has brought back Sasori and Deidara for Hashirama’s people. Well, more specifically for that Bee guy. I’m going to guess that he tore his stitches…Again. I’ll remind myself not to get patched up by Naruto unless I’m about to immediately die of blood loss.

“What happened?” Naruto asks, looking over Sasori’s shoulder. He doesn’t respond and just keeps on quietly sewing up the wound.

“Bee pulled his stitches again like an hour ago.” Gaara says. “He sleeps like a moron.”

“Don’t worry about me, lil’ nines, Big ol’ Bee will be fine. Got the back alley doctor by my side, soon I’ll be down to ride, ya fool.”

“Maybe we should be worried because that didn’t even rhyme well.” Naruto says, casting a glance at Gaara who is smirking.

“Haters.” Bee squirms and twitches out of the way of Sasori’s hand. Deidara sets his hands down on his shoulders hard, keeping him as still as he can. Honestly, they should be having Kisame do this job. Deidara is like a small child compared to Bee. 

“Stop moving.” Sasori looks up, face completely blank. His eyes always remind me of dolls, and I don’t know why. “Do you want me to stich your arms to your sides, too?”

“Sasuke, baby, make everyone some coffee, please? It’s been a long morning.” Madara asks, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m not a barista.” I say that, but I still do it. Sometimes my immediate reactions always betray me; I curse routine.

“If you were a barista, I’d give you a tip.” Naruto winks at me and I can’t help but smirk, pressing the brewing button.

“Don’t you already give him the tip?” Madara says, rolling his eyes.

“No, I’m the barista in this…Should we call it a ‘relationship’?”

I shrug. “Itachi did call you my boyfriend earlier.”

“Wait, hold on. You’re not the bottom?” I stare at Uncle strangely for a few seconds and he slowly breaks eye contact with me, turning towards Hashirama, who is, unsurprisingly looking away from the murderous look on Madara’s face.

“Sasori, no more house-calls, un.” Deidara mutters. “I just learned so many things I didn’t want to know.”

“Isn’t learning fun?” I had to stifle a laugh as Madara gets up from his chair, grabbing it and holding it over his head.

“HASHIRAMA! YOU’VE WOUNDED ME FOR THE LAST TIME! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!”

“I am _deeply_ sorry.” Hashirama keeps trying to move away but I know from experience that running from an Uchiha in a deep rage only really makes things much worse. If anything he should play dead and maybe Madara will take pity on him. “What exactly did I do again?”   

“Why is everyone yelling?” I turn towards Itachi as he walks slowly into the room. He’s frowning as he’s coming into the room, looking worse for wear.

“Madara,” Hashirama, attempting to save himself, grabs onto Madara’s hands. He still holds the chair above his head, eyes full of fire. He says, “I love you.” And I realize then, Hashirama will die.

“GO TO HELL, YOU SHITTY OLD MAN.”  

“We’re the _same_ age!” Unfortunately before Madara could begin his professional career as a TV wrestler, Itachi grabs the chair from his hands, setting it on the ground. I feel a cold chill go down my back as Itachi moves into Uncle’s face, getting so close that their noses are almost touch.

“Madara, if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll show you the proper method of disemboweling someone with a chair leg.” Madara, much to my amazement, puts his hand against Itachi’s neck, fingers digging into his pulse. Uncle exhales, shaking his head.

“Fuck me, you’re hungover right now aren’t you? Are you sweating?” Itachi pulls away, slightly losing his balance as he makes the quick step backwards. “And you’re dehydrated. Great; you were throwing up upstairs weren’t you?”

“Your house is so lively in the morning.” Naruto says to me, resting his head on my shoulder. I hand him a cup of coffee, receiving a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Would you believe me if I said it’s not usually like this?” Naruto chuckles softly, shaking his head. “I know, your image of me is shattered.”

Breathing heavily through his nose, Naruto says, “You’re a funny one, Uchiha.”

“My poor baby.” Madara cradles Itachi gently, and he surprisingly doesn’t resist the contact. Maybe he’s still drunk. “Go lay down, I’ll send Sasori up when he’s done here.”

“No need. Deidara, gauze pad.” After making small adjustments, Sasori stands, ripping off blood covered gloves. “I’m done now.”

“I’m fine.” Itachi insists, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t need to be babied because of a hangover.”

“That’s not the main concern.” Sasori states, his voice is cold. “You lost blood yesterday, correct? And instead of replacing the fluids you lost with water, you drown yourself in booze. And you’ve also been vomiting and probably sweating. Your skin is paler than usual and you’re dizzy, both not good signs.” Unintentionally, I tense next to Naruto, my leg jerking slightly into his. He grabs my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine. “Madara, do you have any pot with you?” That was not the turn in conversation I expected.

“Oh, yeah, I get it.” Madara pulls a bag out of his pocket. “Come on Itachi, we’re hot-boxing the bathroom.”

“But upstairs is so far away.” Itachi complains, resting his head on Madara’s shoulder. Uncle rolls his eyes.

“Okay fine. Sasuke, I’m smoking in the kitchen.”

“So was everybody yesterday, I’ve stopped caring.”        

“If you need anything else, just call.” Sasori says, making a motion to Deidara. They both disappear behind the archway.

“Madara, knowing what’s in that bag, I’m not going to smoke it with you.”

“Don’t be a bitch.”

Itachi raises an eyebrow. “Considering how _potent_ that stuff is, I’ll probably throw up again from coughing.”

Madara considers this, but after a moment, rolls a joint anyway. The smell assaults me with memories of a far more rebellious, younger version of myself. I frown at the thought. “Okay, fine. I’ll just shotgun you then.”

“How about we forget the pot and you just shoot me?’

Uncle rolls his eyes, shoving the joint between his lips. “Listen, even the doctor suggested we get baked, okay? Just enjoy it.”

“Sasori dropped out of medical school.”

Madara ignores Aniki, pulling a lighter from his pocket. “Sasuke, are you gunna get in on this?”

“Maybe next time.” I reply, rolling my eyes. I hadn’t smoked put since I was in my teens. And it was exclusively with Madara. It was like his way of saying sorry for not letting me have a social life outside of him and Itachi; not a very good apology but I made do with what I could get.

“Sasuke, were you a teenage burn-out?” Naruto asks, snuggling even closer up to me.

“Usually you have to go to school to be a burn-out.”                                                             

“Oh yeah, I forgot about your uncle’s Rapunzel-complex.”

\---

**NARUTO'S POV START**

Now is as good as time as any. “Hashirama, did you and Madara think of anything last night?”

He shrugs. “Basically, we’re going to have to find her before she can take us out. And that means we’re going to have to track down Obito and Nagato. It is easier said than done, but if we had some kind of lead or link to a location, it would be a good place to start.”

“Do you think Nagato’s ol--HOLY SHIT MADARA, THAT STUFF IS SO STRONG.”

The Uchiha turns to me, smirking. He weaves his hand with Itachi, and as tortured and horrified as he looks, Itachi puts his mouth against their hands, accepting the smoke billowing through the hole they created. Itachi is the first one to pull back, letting some of the smoke out of his nose. He looks a little pained, coughing really gently at first before it all breaks through his lips, tinting the air around him white and filling my nostrils with the pungent odor again. I look at Sasuke’s face and he’s smirking a little to himself, trying to obscure his obviously enjoyment by putting the cup close to his mouth. I doubt scenes like this happen often.

Madara looks at me again, “Don’t mind us, just keep working through the problems. I’ll tell you if I think you’re being stupid or not.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Do either of you know Kaguya’s last name? Or is she like Orochimaru in that regard?”

Sasuke tenses next to me and I hide my reaction to the sudden jerk of his shoulders. The look on his face remains neutral but I know I just said something that stirred him up on the inside. As much as I would like to wonder why, I had to keep my interests to myself. Now was not exactly the time to dig around in Sasuke’s head; not when so many lives were on the line. I would save that topic for a more private setting.

“Oh boy kid, you’re starting to ask the hard questions.” I raise an eyebrow as Hashirama looks thoughtfully up at the ceiling. “Now what was it?”

“Are you serious? She’s been your mortal enemy for like five hundred years and you don’t even remember her last name?”   

“Why is everyone ragging on me for being old? No one says that to Madara.”

“Maybe it’s because Madara looks like he got stuck in his twenties.”

“Thank you.” Madara pulls back from Itachi’s hand, giving me a really lame thumbs up.

Rolling my eyes, I notice Hashirama has been engulfed by one of his sulky moods. Why does Madara sleep with this guy, honestly? Especially bottom to him; how does his pride even exist after they’ve been together for so long?

Love really is blind.

Or maybe it’s just stupid. Love is just an ideal status between two people that can never really be achieved. All the loves I’ve had in my life always let me down. Maybe that’s why…I…

I sneak a look at Sasuke’s profile as he watches his uncle and brother intensely, as if ready to swoop in at any moment when they need him. He’s a killer but not one usually associated with the term; he has a heart buried beneath. It lays somewhere in the forgotten land of his mind, but it’s there.

“It’s Otsu-“ Madara starts coughing harshly, smoke puffing from his mouth as he bends in half. His body racks with the choking. Hashirama pats his back softly, almost too tender and gentle for a man who runs a criminal organization. There’s so much more to every person in this room than what is on the surface or than their deeds set them up to be like. We wear our names like disguises; hiding what’s important behind the utterance of connotation. We let words and pre-conceived notions take the lead, obscuring ourselves in the ever folding waves of cognitive dissonance.

“Jesus, ugh.” Madara regains control of himself, turning slightly towards Hashirama. It’s faint but the look of admiration and adoring is there. Whether or not Madara and Hashirama were meant to be together doesn’t seem to matter to them; sometimes it's the smallest gestures that matter the most.

Love really is suffocating, isn’t it?

Then why do we want it so badly?

“Her last name is Otsutsuki.” Madara states in a slightly harsher voice; probably because he just coughed out more than half of his diaphragm.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can get from that.” I know it’s going to be too risky to call Sai in front of a room full of people so I head towards the door. However, before I can even exit the kitchen, Hashirama and Madara both grab one of my arms, pulling me right back. Both of them are smiling, all too gentle for their faces. I curse their hive-mind ability.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Madara asks, a smirk breaks up his grin, adding a wicked layer to his face.

“To call my plant, so we can possibly get a lead, in hopes that you won’t be horribly murdered.” I say slowly, as if he’s stupid. We glare at each other but I know how this will go. They won’t let me leave to have this conversation in private. I should have just texted him, but he would have called me with the information anyway. I’m just trying to be efficient.

“How do we know we can actually trust your plant?”

“Haven’t we discussed this already?” I ask, shaking them off of me. “He works for Danzo; he has access to some pretty buried information.”

“Call him in here. Speaker phone would be nice.” I feel sweat break out on the back of my neck. So, they really don’t trust me much after all, not that I’ve given them much to suggest that they really could. For all they know, I could be undercover for the Suits. I’m not, but that’s not the problem. I’ve worked for them before and I have a connection in their offices. No one in this room is stupid; we all know how it looks.

I shrug off Madara and Hashirama. “Fine, have it your way. I don’t mind. You just can’t make too much noise otherwise our ruse will be up.”

My heart starts beating heavily in my chest, thundering and sending ripples of unseen panic through my rib cage. I’m playing very risky games here but either way I look at it, my life is on the line. If I vehemently refuse their request, it looks bad and I know Madara won’t hesitate to shoot me. If Sai hears them however, he’ll know I’m not working for Danzo to find Itachi. A SWAT unit would be here so fast I wouldn’t even be able to duck out of any cross-fire for that situation either. I put my phone up to my mouth, unable to determine if I’ll be able to even hear Sai over my own heart.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, I got a last name for you for that person I texted you about.”

He sighs into the phone, typing something. _“I’m ready.”_

“Otsutsuki, Kaguya Otsutsuki.”

I hear him type something and a sudden tsk of his tongue. He continues to type and I can feel myself fidgeting, fingers tapping without rhythm on the counter. _“It’s….”_

“What?”

_“Give me a second, this is…”_

“Hey, I don’t like the guessing games. What’s going on?”

_“SHIT. I’ll call you back.”_

“Sai? What do you mean ‘call me back’?” I hear the click of him hanging up on me and I just stare at the screen, eyes narrowing. Something weird just happened. “That’s never happened before.” I say mostly to myself.

“So, Sai is your plant. He seems to call you a lot.” I turn my head towards Madara, realizing for the first time that he had that information from when he had my phone. My chest feels like it’s about to explode. This could be it for me. “I’m going to ask you this once, Naruto, just once. I know Hashirama already asked, but you better tell me the truth.” Madara pulls out a gun, aiming it right at me. No one makes a move and I bite the inside of my cheek. Shit. “Are you still running with the Feds?”

“Technically I never did catch Itachi.” I say slowly. “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t sincere when I said I was back in. Hashirama treated me like family when I was working with him. And you obviously need me. Considering you couldn't crack the notes without me, I’d say that you’re not really in a position to judge my loyalty.”

Madara looks unimpressed, his gun still trained on me. “Oh? And why is that, exactly?”

“Prison; all of you would be in prison right now, except for, well, maybe Sasuke. If I was working with the Feds for any reason, we wouldn’t be here right now. And it’s not even a matter of could and could not. You gave me access to a phone and it doesn’t take long for a SWAT team to come. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to go to prison.” I say, putting my hands on my hips. “I know what games the Feds play with people. They’d offer me a deal to rat on all of ya, or I’d do full time. And I’d be looking at life; all of us would. But we all know I wouldn’t even make it a month in prison before you’d gang up and ‘slock’ me in the showers. Let’s be honest. Not to mention, even if you decided to wait to kill me, a number of us in this group would be targeted as ‘snitches’ because of our profiler backgrounds, which would ultimately cause us way more problems. So there’s the chance, I’d also be murdered by other inmates not related to us.” I look at everyone’s face; they’re silent and considering.

“And even if, by some miracle, I didn’t end up in prison with you, I’d still be murdered. I doubt they’d be able to bring in Sasuke for anything remotely related to us, so he’d be free. And, added bonus, he knows where I live. And that means I’d probably be dead.” I cross my arms. “Besides that, if Nagato and Obito are working for Kaguya and killing Jinchuuriki, I’d still be at risk. Witness protection doesn’t always work.” I look Madara straight in the face. “Why would you think I’d put my chips in with people who would immediately fuck me? They fucked me the moment they brought me in the first time; I almost _died_ working for them. Working with you gives me a _far higher_ chance of living through this.”

Madara pulls back his gun, seeming satisfied with what I’ve said. It’s all true though, we’d all be completely fucked in prison. I doubt Gaara, Bee, and I would live for very long. Itachi would probably be sentenced to death. And knowing Madara and Hashirama as well as I do, they’d be in there until they died of old age because people are afraid of them. That’s it. End of our story. The only reason I agreed to help Sai when he asked is because I had no idea what else was happening around me. Things are different. Far more than my life is on the line right now. Shit is real. It’s stupid to believe Danzo would actually be able to give me freedom for the life of someone else. I have to get freedom for myself or I’ll never actually be able to start living.

“If you’re not working with the Feds, why does he keep in contact with you, then? It doesn’t make sense for someone to risk a very important job for nothing.” Gaara says, eyes narrowing.

“Red’s got it right, not everything in your explanation is air tight. Your plant may have taken roots in the feds from the start, but I don’t think he’s got his roots in your heart.”

“Sai has a savior complex; he’s been trying to save me from myself since we were children.” I guess I have to give them a little backstory on myself. No one knows about me. I keep it that way for a reason. I frown. “I’ve known him for almost seventeen years. Every single time we’d get out before the cops showed up or cancelled a contract because of police interference…” I hold up my phone. “That was him. He always gave me a heads-up, if he knew about it.”

“I knew you had to have something I didn’t.” Hashirama mutters. “Your ‘intuition’ was always right.”

“Well, most of my intuition was mine. Sai started working for the Feds three years ago. Before that, he was just a regular guy working homicide. I only ever knew about police set-ups, not government ones, which is ultimately what I got busted with.” I say with a shrug. “Our relationship is symbiotic. I give him help on his cases, to an extent, and he gives me information. Just because he’d give me a heads-up or information doesn’t mean he was supporting me completely. It’s what you do with what you’re given that really makes the difference.”

“And why exactly are you giving him the third degree on this?” Itachi leans, eyebrow raising as he speaks. “Should it really matter as long as we get the information we need?”

“I don’t want to go to prison.” Madara mumbles. “If I go to prison, I’d rather it be because I messed something up, not because some little brat is setting us up.”

“Either way, Naruto and Itachi are right. For one, it shouldn’t matter as long as we get the information. And if Naruto was setting us all up, we’d already be in the back of SWAT vehicles. This isn’t something we should dwell on because it has no rightful place to be brought up.” Sasuke says, locking gazes with me. I smile softly, watching how bright his eyes are. It’s always the little gestures that count the most, right? Even if he’s just repeating me and Itachi, he’s reaffirming.

“Says the person who wouldn’t end up in prison.” Gaara says, eyes narrowing.

My phone starts ringing and the tension in the room amplifies drastically. Jesus, you’d think we were on an actual job or something. I pull it out of my pocket. “Speaker.” Madara says, glaring at me the entire time.

I roll my eyes. “Hello?”

_“Naruto, after hours.”_

“Really? Right now?” A small bead of sweat drips down my next and I look around the room. I really don’t want to do this now in front of everyone, but it looks like I’m going to have to.

_“Yes, Naruto. Is there a problem?”_

I frown, turning away from the multiple sets of eyes staring at me. This will be…an adventure. “It’ll be nine ninety five for the first minute, and ten dollars any time after. Do you accept the charges?” I can already tell that everyone’s faces are completely stunned without having to look. And I know exactly what this seems like, but that’s the way it needs to appear. Sasuke’s eyes haven’t left me and it’s even worse because I’m standing right next to me. Why? Why me?

_“I accept.”_

“Where are you right now?”

_“In the bathroom.”_

“Ew.”

_“Shut up. I needed some alone time for this.”_

“Have you been a naughty boy? _”_

_“Only for you. If my boyfriend found out that I was calling you now, I’d be in serious trouble.”_

“Oh? But you’ve called me before, why would now be different?”

 _“Because we invited that woman into the bedroom.”_ I tense, my fingers tapping against the counter. Oh god, this is getting bad. _“She’s bad.”_

“How was I supposed to know? I was testing out a kink.”

_“My boyfriend found out I was hooking up with you and her. He’s got me chained up.”_

“Hm, I thought he liked me. Why was he so mad?”

_“I don’t know. He wasn’t mad about you; he was mad about her. Says we shouldn’t be hooking up with a woman like that; especially not you. She’s a dirty girl, get it?”_

This has never happened before so I’m at a loss for words. I bite my lip, sweating more than before. What am I going to do then?   

_“Can we meet up later?”_

Oh boy, here we go. I highly doubt with so much suspicion on me at the moment, anyone is this room is going to let me leave this house. But what should I say? I can’t say no because Sai would raise some kind of alarm. I don’t know. Shit. “When do you get off?”

 _“Not until six.”_ Little more than five hours. Okay, I think I can work with this.

“That’ll work.” I hang up the call. “Alright we got a problem.”

“Yeah apparently you’re a phone sex operator.” I feel my eye twitching; this is the first time we’ve ever had to use ‘after hours’ and lo, it is in the worst place.

“It’s a code, actually. ‘After hours’ isn’t something to take at face value.” I explain, crossing my arms over my chest. “Though, this is the first time I’ve ever used it and come to realize it isn’t exactly practical in polite company.”  

“Just get on with it.” Madara says, waving his hand dismissively.

“Like I said, we have a problem. When Sai was looking stuff up on Kaguya, something pinged. Danzo knows I’m asking about her and thus, code needed to be used in case we’re getting monitored. This has never happened to us before. Usually, I can get information about anything. And if he’s mad about us looking her up, this isn’t just her plotting something out. It has to run deeper.”

Hashirama and Madara lock gazes, both frowning. “Do you mean like a conspiracy?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. But if Sai wants to meet up, he may have found something he wasn’t supposed to and wants me to look at it ASAP.”

“Bring him here.” Madara says, face completely blank. Everyone turns towards him with a surprised look, including Hashirama.

“Are you stupid? Just because he’s helping Naruto doesn’t mean shit about us. Don’t forget, he’s a Suit.” Hashirama exclaims, slamming his fists on the table. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

Madara smirks. “If you’re worried about being monitored by the Feds, your apartment might be bugged already. The last thing we need is for you and your little friend to be taken off the map. Bring him here; tell him to destroy his phone before we meet with him and he can discuss the information with us. He’ll want to know what he’s about to get involved with.”  

I swallow, thickly. This is the last thing I wanted. If Sai comes here, his identity will be fully revealed to them and that will cause problems later down the line. And the last thing I want right now is to have a scuffle with him involved. He’s too valuable.

But Madara has a point.  I don't know what Sai does when I’m not at my apartment, and since I haven’t exactly been picked up by the Feds yet, I could assume he hasn’t bugged the place himself. However, that doesn’t mean I can fully trust him. He’s done risky and stupid shit before because of me, so bugging the place wouldn’t be beyond him. It wouldn’t matter if I was mad at him or not. He wants to keep me safe, that’s his prerogative; his main objective. But this is beyond risky business…

“I don't think this is a very good idea, Madara. Sai wants to keep _me_ out of prison; he probably has no qualms with anyone else going.”

“Naruto, think objectively about this.” Madara begins, waving his finger as though he’s giving me a stern lecture. “You’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place; we need you and so do the Feds. Refusing to pick us puts you in a very tentative situation where we may decide that you aren’t worth the risk. And if you pick us, there’s still the chance the Feds may do something stupid, which will be directly connected to that plant of yours. If you think that keeping your plant anonymous or shielding him from what you’re really doing is going to help you in the long run, I’d be more than willing to bet you’re wrong. You claim he has a savior complex and I don’t doubt it’s because he’s in love with you. And thus, blinded by devotion, he’s willing to do something stupid, not caring about whether or not it would make you angry, to keep _you_ safe.”

I clap at the brilliant deduction. He’s much better at this than I thought. Why isn’t Madara know for creating profilers? He’s almost better at this than Hashirama. “You’re probably right.”

“No ‘probably’ about it. I am right. And because I’m right, you should listen to me. Bring him here; keeping all of this under wraps will only end up causing us problems. If I’m correct about how much he loves you then he’ll be willing to hear you out when you explain what’s happening.”   

I pull my phone out of my pocket, looking down at the screen. I press his name, holding the phone up to my ear. My stomach is flipping in knots, but Madara is right. I hate to admit it, but Sai needs to know what’s happening. “Hey, change of plans. Quickly get a GPS lock on me and meet me at that address. Also, before you even get close to being here, _destroy your phone_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone else noticed that Madara's solution to everything is to bring the person in question to the house? >.> Madara, that may not always be your best choice. But I guess we'll see if it was a good idea next time. Thank you for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sai arrives and brings the information on Kaguya. But his presence starts stirring up ripples in an otherwise calm pond. For more than one reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT. I HAD TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER 3 DIFFERENT TIMES BECAUSE I'VE BEEN HAVING SO MANY TECHNOLOGY ISSUES. Anyway, I managed to sit down on Wednesday and just FINISH IT. After a little tweaking, this is the product I'm the most okay with. Again, I'm sorry.

NARUTO POV

There’s something very innately intimate about revealing your friendships to others. I had always made it my top priority to keep my personal life out of my professional life. They were separate because that was how I wanted them to be.

My eyes roll back in my head as I let out a shaky breath. Sasuke hasn’t said anything to me since the interaction in the kitchen. He and I just broke off into our respective coupling and started fucking to pass the time until Sai arrives. I groan softly as he continues to roughly fuck me. His hips are moving with such a ferocity that I feel like he’s going to split my body in half. It’s just so fucking good. I can’t help but smirk to myself as he buries his head into my shoulder, biting down hard.

This is exactly why I keep my affairs with others secret. It always plants a seed, something vile and vicious, something possessive and putrid. If he keeps feeding it like this, he’ll kill me. Of that I have no doubts. Jealousy doesn’t turn anything green; it rots things until they’re ashen black.

Not that Sasuke and I have much more than sex.

It is the most basic of instincts; consummation. And by consummating, consuming what your partner is…For one to fully engulf and swallow another person so wholly that they can never wash away the stain. My body is up for any man to possess; I am a commodity for men, a satiation of whispered desires. It is the most amazing feeling…

I grit my teeth as orgasm churns in my gut, pushing to a fever pitch as I moan loudly, unable to hold it back. Sasuke still isn’t looking at me, rather, marking me with his teeth, his mouth, forcing his scent and essence deep inside of my body. He’s attempting to possess me like many have before him. He’s a man in frenzy, one tipping towards raw instinct, something wild and exciting. I wonder if he can name the bitterness on his tongue, the anguish plucking at his stomach, and such a cold hand gripping at his heart.

I let out a gentle chuckle and Sasuke finally pulls out of me.  He’s pushing down on both of my shoulder and forcing me deeper into the mattress.

Humans do things to each other to establish some kind of dominance and now Sasuke is attempting to create some kind of hierarchy between us. Perhaps even, to show that I, in some way, belong to him. I don’t, however, but it’s cute to see him struggle with the subtleties of his own personality. I’ve known for a long time that I cannot belong to anyone but myself, that things like relationships and love aren’t necessary for my survival.  

“What’s wrong?” I ask, knowing full well that I wouldn’t receive a response.

Sasuke sits back on his heels, removing himself completely from me, even letting up on his grip on my shoulders. He still doesn’t look at me but finally says, “Is what Madara said true?”

“To what are we referring, Sasuke?” I want to hear him say it. I want him to acknowledge his own hunger for me.

He sends me a sideways glance, huffing. He gets up from the bed and heads towards the bathroom. “Doesn’t matter. Wanna join me?”

“How could I say ‘no’?” I smirk to myself as I follow behind him.

\---

I’m tense. I’ve been waiting for Sai to arrive for hours and while I’ve kept my anxiety under the surface, my anticipation is starting to get the better of me. But it’s not just me who is at the peak. Everyone is fidgeting in their own ways, except for Itachi. His level of composure is the stuff of legends.

I hear the car pull up in the driveway and the lights shut off. I raise a hand for everyone to wait as I go out the front door. The Deja-vu is setting in as I remember the trap I set for Hashirama; it was pretty much the same set up. Of course, there’s no point in tweaking a plan that works. Sai gets out of the car and looks up at me. He sets a laptop on the roof of his car as he closes the door, grabbing it again as he turns towards me. He’s checking me from head to foot, just to see if I’m hurt. His eyes rest at my neck longer than anywhere else but he doesn’t say anything…At least not right away.

“Keeping busy, I see.” He says in a snarky, biting way.

I smile at him. “What’s wrong with mixing business and pleasure?” I move closer to him, shoving my hand into the pocket of his coat. I barely frisk him and he offers no resistance. I want him to ditch his car too but I know that would be asking too much at this point. And even though a little voice is nagging me to check it for bugs, I figure Danzo would be satisfied with just the one in his phone, if he planted any at all.

Danzo lives in an illusion of control so he may be cocky enough to think he won’t need to use bugs or such tactics to keep everyone in line.

If that’s the case, he’s a fool.

“Okay, come on in.” I say as I lead him up the walk way.

“Whose house is this? It’s a little nice for a traphouse.”   

I laugh at the comment. “Oh man, this ain’t a traphouse.” I can sense Sai’s hesitation and I turn around, smiling again to throw him off-guard. “What did you do with your phone anyway?”

He relaxes slightly and continues to follow me. “I threw it out of the window when I was on the freeway.” I shake my head, holding in the laugh. A little overkill but it will get the job done. “I also made sure I had Danzo on the phone when I threw it so he wouldn’t be suspicious that I suddenly fell off the radar.”

“Looks like I’m starting to rub off on you. You’re thinking ahead for a change.”

Opening the door, Sai, again, hesitates. “What’s inside, Naruto?”

“Oh, I wonder about that myself.”

Sai stares at me, refusing to move as I stand in the doorway. “Are you setting me up?”

“And what benefit would that give me?” Sai takes a step back, just watching me. “Really? Now is the time you’re not going to trust me? A little late for that, don’t you think? I’m just giving us a safe place to talk and you’re acting like you’re about to be murdered upon entry. Give me a little more credit, please.”

“Tell me the truth, right now. What’s in there?”

“Don’t kill the mystery, dude. Where’s the fun in a spooky house if I ruin all the surprises before we go in?”

Sai silently contemplates this and just shakes his head, pushing ahead of me for a moment. He gets as far as the entryway before he sees them in the kitchen. Slowly, he moves backwards, with as much speed and silence as he can muster. Of course, it’s not like he could get away. I’m right behind him, blocking his path back to the door.

“Surprise.” I say, pushing him through the archway and into the kitchen.   

He starts to scramble, nearly dropping the laptop case as he reaches behind him for the conceal weapon stuffed down the back of his pants. I grab his arm, twisting it painfully against his back so he drops the gun into my free hand. I pivot on my feet, dropping the clip out of the bottom of the gun and unloading the chamber. And then as quickly as I can, I completely dismantle his gun. I hand him what’s remaining with a smile. He’s bewildered. “Well, well, it’s not like you to pack heat. Do you even know how to use this thing?” I taunt. He looks up at me, still stunned.

He’s completely still as he looks around the room. Madara, Hashirama, Itachi, every single person he’s been told needs to go down…Right in front of him.

He turns towards me; his eyes show a variety of emotions I haven’t seen in him since I was in the hospital. He’s panicking. Oh no, he’s about to open his mouth. “I thought we were friends Naruto!” Before I can open my mouth to say anything in reply. “We’ve been together since the orphanage and this is how it’s going to end for us? Turning me over to thes-“

“Don’t even say what you’re about to. You don’t want to step on the toes of anyone here, okay? Just shut your mouth and listen to me.” He stiffens up and stares at me. “You want to know what’s going on, right? You always want to know what I’m doing so I’m going to tell you.” I pause for a moment, crossing my arms. “I was looking into what Danzo wanted. But a certain situation was brought to my attention that I couldn’t ignore.”

A look of realization comes over his face and he nods with understanding. “The Jinchuurikis.”

“You knew.” I put my hand up. “You didn’t even bother to tell me-“ I have to stop myself. “We won’t get into that here.” I sigh. “My life is on the line and I refuse to sit idly by and wait until someone comes to my apartment and snipes me.”

“And you had to lie to me?”

I raise my eyebrow. “And you thought holding back the truth would help me? Are you fucking crazy? I was a sitting duck! I’m _lucky_ Madara found me when he did.”

Madara whistles, catching our attention. “We have bigger issues right than the tiff you’re having with your boyfriend.” Madara says, smirking at the two of us before it turns into a frown. “We don’t have all day. We need that information, now, if it’s not too much of a bother.”

I make a motion for him to head deeper into the kitchen and as Sai walks by Itachi, he tries not to pause. Itachi smirks, leaning out of his chair and grabs Sai’s arm, forcing him to look the Uchiha in the eye. “Don’t worry little suit, I don’t bite. Now, stabbing, that’s still on the table.” Itachi winks. The room fills with malicious laughter as all of us watch his face and feed on his fear.

I know Sai needs to be careful. We’ll easily eat him alive.   
\--

**Sasuke’s POV**

He and I are not so different when it comes to appearance, I suppose. Upon first glance one may even think we might be related, having both gained the same kind of coloring. Pale, dark hair and eyes. Could that be why Naruto wanted to keep him under wraps? That it reveals a preference for a certain kind of partner? I grind my teeth. That can’t be it. Naruto has shown no interest in Uncle or Itachi. Just me.

I watch Sai set up the laptop, not looking at anyone but keeping himself close to Naruto. He has been hovering around Sai like a mother bird, as if to shield him. Even if he acts standoffish and angry, I know Naruto is still protecting him. Sai needs the protection from us. We can smell the weak and we will easily push him out of his little nest if we feel it necessary. I can tell just from his abrasive and overly defensive attitude we are not cut from the same cloth. He isn’t something that’s tested its mettle, just merely wandering through the lion’s den and showing no signs of dominance or a will to fight.

So why keep him from us for so long? Naruto must have his reasons for locking this little thing away but only one strikes me as the most probable; a deep connection. Love, maybe? Either way, they have some kind of bond. One that cannot be easily severed, perhaps spanning as long as ‘death do us part’. But everyone in this room knows when you don’t assert yourself or even begin to show that you’re capable, just someone who can be manipulated, you won’t last very long. 

I already know I’m overthinking this person. He can’t hold a candle to me nor should we even be compared in the first place. We are products of our environments, our times, our experiences. We are not the same. We share nothing but Naruto.

No.

Not even him.

Naruto is mine. Regardless of our triste, I’m still hunting him. Everything locked away in that beautiful mind will come tumbling out at my feet.

But their bond…Sai’s little saving grace may be a problem.

Naruto wasn’t just hiding him from us, it’s more likely he was hiding us from him. We think badly about people when we see who they associate with and their reasoning behind it. Naruto is no different. He didn’t want Sai to know about who he really is. And that is completely fine with me. If Naruto wants to hide himself where the light can’t find him and sink deeper and deeper into the murky world around him, let him. I’ll be right there with him. I will be the one to guide him through the dark…Even if that means death does Sai and Naruto part. I’ll kill Sai before he can even dream of passing into our territory.

But that doesn’t mean Sai, for now, has no use. He has access to information that would take us months to get our hands on. We don’t have that kind of time. To think it only took one phone call for us to have a well of knowledge spill at our feet. But he also has a different kind of knowledge. Knowledge I, specifically, am interested in.

He and Naruto have known each other, undoubtedly, for a long time. They had an entire gambit going while Naruto was with Hashirama the first time. Even if my little blond kept secrets from Sai, that little suit has to know some things about Naruto that he would never dare utter to me.

I smirk to myself, coming in close to Itachi so I can observe. He knows what I’m doing and he laughs under his breath, putting his hand on my back. I lean in towards him, his breath tickling my ear. “Be careful, my dearest Otouto, I can smell your desire for blood.”

“So, how exactly are you going to do this?” Naruto’s voice catches my attention as he leans over Sai’s shoulder.

“I may have done something kind of illegal.”

“So a typical Tuesday.”

“I switched Danzo’s laptop with mine.”

“Are you serious? I have no doubts Danzo has a fucking tracking bug in his damn laptop.” Sai scoffs at Naruto.

“I know he does. That’s why I disabled it before I left the office.” Sai begins typing but then stops. “Do you wanna guess his password?”

Naruto looks amused for a second. “Oh, I didn’t know there was going to be a quiz. Is it ‘password’?”

“It’s a little more creepy than that.”

“Oh well, if that’s the case, then it’s probably my name, right?” Naruto pushes Sai to the side and types in something, frowning. “That seems about right.”

“He’s your number one fan.” Sai pulls up a command prompt. “Okay settle in, I’m going to have to make some alterations to Danzo’s laptop so they can’t trace when or where I looked up this information. This may take a couple minutes.”

“I can’t believe this is him. I’ve seen him before.” Hashirama mutters, sounding a little sad.

“I’m good at hiding secrets.” Naruto replies with a wry smile.

“I thought he was just one of your regular Johns, I’m so stupid.”

“Finally, after almost forty years, you admit it.” Uncle says, smirking in Hashirama’s face.

“Oh shut up, Madara. You think everyone besides yourself is stupid.”

“That has been what the evidence has provided to me, yes.”   

“Could you get me a piece of paper and a pen?” Sai asks as he pulls up a file. I look over his shoulder, a photo of a woman in the corner of a document, that must be her, Kaguya. But she looks young, maybe in her thirties, so it’s old.

“Why do you need that?”

“Because this file is twenty pages long and I doubt you want me to give you this as a bed time story.”

Uncle points over his shoulder. “Office is the second door on the left.”

Naruto rolls his eyes when no one else moves. “Alright, I’ll be back in a second.”

As soon as Naruto detaches himself from Sai, immediately the mood in the room shifts. It’s full of nervous energy, but not from us, from Sai, the outsider. He knows this is not where he belongs, that we’re different. He just pretends to read, but I can see his hands are shaking and his foot is bouncing too. I go to the counter by the sink, leaning against it, watching. Suddenly, Sai lifts his head away from the laptop, looking towards me.

“So, you hitting that?” Sai asks in the most nonchalant way, pointing towards to hallway. He and I lock eyes for a few seconds before I can recover from the shock of his bluntness.

“And what’s it to you if I am?”

He smiles at me, and there’s something immediately disingenuous about it. “I wouldn’t act so tough for being a little baby who hangs onto his brother’s coat tails.” My mouth hangs open for just a second, everyone silently stunned and just watching. Itachi stifles a laugh, hand over his mouth. He looks over me, a look saying ‘you gunna take that?’. I can feel a prickling starting at my fingertips as my heart rate picks up, everything tinting as an unknown rage starts a throbbing at my temple.

“I can’t leave you alone for a second!” Naruto says as he realizes what I’m about to do.

\----------

_Naruto’s POV_

The whole room stands still for a moment, charged with electricity. I thought it would be Sasuke’s jealousy that would get the better of him, not his anger. And at such a snippy comment, too. Should have probably seen that one coming. I reach for my gun, but then hesitate to follow through with the shot. I know it’ll take mere seconds for Sasuke to cut through Sai’s neck’s but the risk is too great in such an enclosed space. In probably the stupidest move possible, I throw my gun at Sasuke’s hand. He’s stunned for just a second; and that second is an opening. Madara starts to move, obviously believing I’m capable of killing Sasuke. But Hashirama stops him, grabbing his wrist.

Sai’s not moving, leaving himself wide open like an idiot. His eyes wide open like he wasn’t actually expecting Sasuke to react. I even told Sai to mind his Ps and Qs and just look how things are turning out. It could be a blood bath. Sai has no way to defend himself. I move. I run over to Sasuke, leaping up onto the counter in the small space between Madara and Hashirama. Sasuke is still a little shocked from my preemptive attack and I jump onto him before he can grab another knife…

And then, we begin to struggle.

He has a pouch of knives on his thigh, each one just as deadly as the next. And now, because I just had to step in, I’m going to be the target of his barrage. Close-quarters combat has never been a particularly strong suit of mine, but I know me just shooting at Sasuke would put me in a larger pot of problems. Madara and Itachi would descend destruction upon me. Itachi hasn’t even made a move yet so I need to end this as quickly as possible. So for now, I’ll have to keep myself from the sting of Sasuke’s blade, on my toes, ready to fist fight for my life.

I push Sasuke’s arm down, using his altered position to knee him in the face. I need to put distance between us so I can gather precious seconds for a better game plan. Itachi and Madara are bound to jump in at any second, especially if they believe I’m willing to put Sasuke down. Sai’s up and out of his chair, standing too close behind me. I turn to shove him but Sasuke jumps onto my back, slamming me face first into the linoleum. In my peripheral, I see Itachi kick his chair out from the island, standing up. But much to my surprise, Kisame also stands to meet him. I did not think Kisame would have my back on this one.

I grunt out the pain, attempting to roll us over. I can feel him reaching down for a knife, one that he can easily slam into my spine. It’ll be all over then. I’d be as good as dead. Panic starts to set in, Sasuke is a little tougher than I anticipated. Maybe I should have shot him. It would have made things easier now, but I’d probably be dead either way.

Reeling back with me all my might, I catch his nose with my head. No cracking of bones fills the room so if anything, it’s just a rough little love tap. He loses his grip on me and that gives me just enough time to flip us over. I shove my knees into his shoulders, grabbing haphazardly at the knives around his thighs. Sasuke’s clawing at me desperately knowing I’m about to disarm him. His eyes are wild and I feel a sudden spike of adrenaline and lust.

He smirks at me, knowingly, blood trickling from his nose. I toss his bag of knives into the entryway. The problem for me, however, is that I let up too much weight when I was throwing. Sasuke is able to turn, throwing me head first into the oven door. “Fuck.” I moan, grabbing onto the handle of the oven. My head is spinning; my world is spinning. I can’t get a good bearing on what’s happening.

Sasuke gets up and I realize he’s abandoned me for Sai again, his real target. Of course, a kitchen knife is easily in his reach and it won’t take him long to fillet Sai like a fish. I need to act quickly. Getting to my feet, I grab the only thing I could, a cast iron skillet hanging from a display in the ceiling above the island. Sasuke senses my movements; he blocks my swing. For a brief second, his eyes widen with humor, smirking at me.

Again, we begin to struggle.

Sweat and the blood from my oven wound are mixing together and running down my cheek as we push against each other. Neither one of us refusing to give in. Sasuke manages to shove me into the stove; back pushing into the knobs and almost laying me completely flat on the burners. He’s winning. Shit. If I’m not careful…

I feel it then…Pressing rock hard against my thigh. Smirking, I reach down and grab Sasuke’s cock, working it through his pants. Even now he can’t resist his desire to consume me. His breath is ragged and he’s leaning closer to me. I lick my lips, leaning up to meet him.

I press my lips hard into his and he doesn’t pull back, in fact he throws his knife down. I do the same with the skillet as we embrace each other, still with an animalistic sort of violence. If this was Sasuke way of staking his claim to me, he could have just, I don’t know, used his words or something. Killing Sai seems a bit extreme. Either way, fighting him, even though he did hurt me, made me long for him as well.

“Hey! Don’t forget you have an audience.”

“Not that you minded the other night.” I say, looking over Sasuke’s shoulder. Madara winks at me, causing Hashirama to look confused.

“Should I-?”

“Nope, don’t bother asking.”

Sasuke pulls back from me and we lock eyes, trying to see if disobeying Madara would be worth it. Knowing him, he’d just come up stairs after us and drag us down. Sasuke releases me and I wipe at the blood on my forehead. He hands me a paper towel.

“Would you, at least, be gracious enough to grant Sasuke and I a few minutes to clean up?”

Madara waves his hand dismissively.  
\--

“Alright so what do we know about this bitch?” I ask looking over Sai’s shoulder. He’s filled the white paper with notes on the case. He sets down his pen with a sigh.

“A lot. We’ve got like twenty pages of files on her and I had to read all of it to give you the cliff-notes version.” Sai squints his eyes, scanning through all the information.  “Looks like we’ve been following her since the early sixties. Not for small time stuff either: drug trafficking, prostitution, gun running, excetera. Basic gang-mafia activity. Um, we popped her for trafficking back in seventy-nine and to avoid a prison sentence she became an informant for the FBI…But apparently refused to testify in a major series of court cases against Tajima Uchiha and Butsuma Senju. They-”

“Got off, obviously. It wouldn’t have mattered if she did testify. My father was paying off the DA and he probably could have slipped some cash to anyone who was overseeing his case.” Madara comments.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Hashirama laughs.

Sai’s tapping the pen impatiently; he smiles but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s annoyed. But hey, not like he could back-talk the two mafia kings in the room. Considering Sasuke already had his freak out moment, he needs to watch himself even more than before. He gives them a little room to chat and when an adequate pause arises, he starts again. “So, after the court cases fall through, nothing much happened with Kaguya until eighty-three when she requested to be put in witness protection after claiming she had been found out by the Uchiha and Senju families and was being blamed for the murders of Tajima and Butsuma.”

“ _Both_ of your fathers were murdered?” I ask, a little stunned.

“Don’t be so surprised. We all know this is a bloody business.” Madara replies, with a shrug. “I’ve been shot in the chest for god’s sake.”

“You’re never gunna let that go, are you?” Hashirama says, frowning.

Madara raises an eyebrow in exasperation, throwing up one of his hands. “I didn’t even say it was you.”   

“You know I didn’t mean to.”

“Generally, when you shoot someone in the chest, you mean it.” Comes Madara’s snide reply. “Am I wrong?” He looks around the room, and the general consensus is ‘yes, he’s right’ from the collective murmuring.  

 Itachi scoffs, raising an eyebrow. “If Hashirama meant it, it means you must have done something. And somehow I feel you may have deserved it.” He says from the top of his coffee cup.

“Maybe a little bit.” Hashirama concedes.

“Coming from the man who was _inconsolable_ when you realized it was me.”

“You know, me shooting you could have been avoided if _you_ didn’t lie to _me_!”

“Oh pardon me, mister perfect, because _you_ were so composed back then. There was a lot of shit I had to come to turns wi-“

“Okay before we get too far down this hole, did Kaguya kill your fathers?” I look at them and there’s a shared glance between Hashirama and Madara. There’s a hesitance in Hashirama’s face but Madara rolls his eyes.

“No.” Both of them reply. Then Hashirama gets hesitant again, looking to Madara for a solution.

“Do you want me to say it? I won’t if you don’t want me to.” He takes a sip of his coffee and Hashirama’s face doesn’t change. He mutters something to Madara that I can’t make out from my position and Madara scoffs. “So, yes?” Hashirama still looks very unsure and not happy with the words about to come out of Madara’s mouth. He nods in defeat. “Alright then, Hashirama and I both committed patricide.”

“How can you be so calm about saying it?”

“Because they needed to die, Hashirama, remember? As I recall, we didn’t have much of a choice. Things were getting out of control. We were at the brink of a real mafia war. It would have destroyed the city. It was the only way we could really have peace.”

“Look how well that worked out.”

Madara slams his hand down on the counter, looking seriously at Hashirama. He opens and closes his mouth. “Jesus, you’re bringing out everything aren’t you?”

“Oh, you upset I’m ripping off your usual bit, Madara?”

“Are you trying to make me angry, Hashirama?” Slowly, they got closer to each other and once I realized only their mouths were getting closer, I jump in.

“Hey, hey, if me and Sasuke aren’t allowed to take a quick thirty to do that, you aren’t either.”

“We’re old, it’ll be over fast.”

“That’s the boldest lie you’ve dared to tell.” Hashirama laughs, giving Madara a peck on the lips. “Like they weren’t here the other night. They know.”

“So far this study of Kaguya hasn’t been particularly helpful, so why not get an hour’s break? Don’t you want to check on your Bumble Bee friend?” Madara’s eyes lock with Hashirama’s and they’re giving each other air kisses, smirking and smiling stupidly each time.

“You mean Killer Bee?”

“Whatever.”

“I think there’s still a little more on this sheet you probably want to know.” Sai replies, holding up the paper. “Otherwise this was all pointless.”

“He’s right.” I agree. Madara and Hashirama barely turn away from each other. Itachi’s shaking his head, seeming to just be watching and judging in silence. “Just skip as much as you can.”

“You want the super abridged version? We don’t know where she and we haven’t for almost thirty years.”

I look over at Sai and I just stare at him, a little too stunned for words. I open and shut my mouth looking around the room to see if I just misunderstood what he told us. Sasuke looks at me, a confusion palpable in his eyes.  

“What do you mean that we don’t know where she is?”

“She escaped witness protection in Eighty-eight and we don’t know where she’s been since.”

“And you didn’t think to lead with that little tidbit.” Madara asks, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “Lemme think, eighty-eight. I was twenty-six, so yep that works. We thought she was dead then.” Madara slams his hand down on the counter for a second time during this interaction. “So basically, we risked our necks for nothing. You’re a useless little shit stirrer.”

“Hey, calm down, Madara.” Hashirama tries to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but the Uchiha just turns, pinning Hashirama in place with just a look. “Good to see your bearable mood is over.”

“They’re not coming after you like they are me, Hashirama, you don’t get it. You haven’t had bullets whizzing by your head.”

“Lemme see Danzo’s laptop.” I say and Sai gets up from his seat, letting me take over. I scan through Kaguya’s file as quickly as I can, shaking my head. Something pings with me and I can’t help but say it out. “She got popped for having over a hundred grams of liquid DMT? Damn, how did she not get life?”

“Because she became an informant; plus, when she got popped, DMT wasn’t as illegal as it is now.” Sai replies. I nod my head in consideration.

“What’s DMT?” Sasuke’s voice comes from behind me and I turn towards him.

“Sometimes I forget, you haven’t been super entrenched in this underworld of ours.” I smile and he rolls his eyes. “It’s the most powerful hallucinogen to ever hit the drug market. Acid times ten, but then also divided by ten because apparently it doesn’t last very long. I have no personal experience with it because I didn’t want to have any on my person if I ever got arrested. That shit is higher on the drug registry in illegality than heroin.” I say. But I think the real question is: How did she get so much of it at one time and not get popped before? If the Feds were tracking her for this long, they had to know she was importing this stuff from Peru. It’s the only place you can get it…Well besides from the pineal gland, but that’s only hypothesized.

For some reason my mind wouldn’t let this go. There was a nagging voice whispering to me that I was missing something, but for now, I had to ignore it. I had other issues I had to deal with. Solving two mysteries at once. I turn to Sai, “Um so there’s nothing else on his laptop? What about at the office?”

He looks like he’s tracing the conversational strings back for a moment, obviously caught off guard by the not-so-seemless switch in topics.“My computer locked me out at the office when I typed in her name. We got the top secret information I couldn’t at the office and this is the best I can do in terms of obtaining it.” Sai explains. When he finishes, he just shrugs. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“There’s no way they don’t know more about Kaguya.” I mutter. I open up the documents on Danzo’s computer, Sai looking over my shoulder.

“Whattaya doing now?”

“Well if we can’t find the ring leader, we might as well see what you guys have on the lackeys.”

“You mean Obito and Nagato? They’re working with Kaguya?”

“As far as I can tell, they are.” I reply.

“Well in case you forgot, they’re on the lam, remember? They escaped from prison.”

“Is there any way you can get me details on their escape? Like a visitor’s log or something? There had to be an investigation, right? Or are you guys that bad at your jobs.”

Sai rolls his eyes. “Before my time, but yes, there was an investigation. I can try to look for something. Danzo might have the files on his computer so-“ Sai waves me out of the seat, returning to his previous position.

I squeeze the bridge of my nose, trying to think of any lead I could. “Did your goons kill that blue-haired chick yet, Madara?”

“They’re still looking for her.” Madara shook his head. “Apparently she saw Kakuzu outside her apartment and she took off.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Madara turns his head towards Itachi. “Are you well enough to track her down, Itachi?”

“Have a heart, Madara. He’s been sta-“

“I believe Madara was asking me, Kisame. Thanks. You don’t need to baby me.” Itachi replies, giving him a glare. “And it should have been my job to start with.”

“I didn’t want to leave Kurama alone with Sasuke. Not after finding out his affiliation.” Itachi and Sasuke, in sync, roll their eyes.

“Name is Naruto, thanks. And I’m pretty sure Sasuke proved he’s more than capable at keeping me at bay.”   

“Then it’s settled. Kisame, grab your coat, we’re going after a fugitive.”

“I want you to meet up with Sasori and Deidara. Konan lived pretty close to the red light district…” Madara’s words stop completely as he turns to Hashirama. “Give me your phone.”

Hashirama raises an eyebrow, but hands over the device without much further prodding.

“You gunna finish that previous thought?” Itachi asks as get to his feet.

“Sit your happy ass back down. I got a better idea than sending you on a wild goose chase.” Madara says with a triumphant smirk. Which, in earnest, is a relief because everything we’ve been doing has basically led us to dead end after dead end.

“Oh? You have an idea where she might be?” Itachi asks, but then looks confused as Madara pulls out his phone.

“Nope, but I know someone who might.”

“And you’ve seriously been sitting on this gold mine and wasting our time? Are you serious?” I ask. “And you complained about the help I gave us.” 

“Well, okay, she’s the pimp of the people who might know but it’s still-“

“Madara,” Hashirama looks grave as the Uchiha’s thumb hestitates over the screen. “are you calling my wife?” 

Madara smirks. “Did the ‘arranged marriage’ contact name give it away?”

Hashirama snatches the phone out of Madara’s hand. “Don’t rename my wife ‘arranged marriage’ in _my_ phone!” Hashirama shakes his head, “Or in general. And besides that, I’m not letting you call her.”

Madara pulls out his own phone. “From your phone maybe.”

Before Hashirama can even stop Madara, he’s walking away from the island, phone to his ear. “Hey, are you busy right now?” There’s a hilariously horrified look on Hashirama’s face and I can barely hold back my laughter. “Am I with Hashi? Yeah, we’re together. That’s why I’m calling actually.” Madara’s passive face changes in an instant as he starts listening more intently. “That actually _wasn’t_ the reason I’m calling but it’s good to know anyway.” Madara turns his attention to Hashirama, making a slit motion across his neck. Hashirama, in his depression, puts his head down on the counter. “Oh, right. You know that house I bought for my nephew?” Madara leans against the archway. “No, not Itachi, Sasuke, the younger one….Yeah. Can you swing over for a minute?” Madara laughs. “Oh shut up. If anyone’s drunk it’s you.”

“I thought the mistress was supposed to stay hidden from the wife?” Itachi says, giving Hashirama an all knowing, yet pointed look.

He picks his head up, sighing. “Could you stop giving me that look? I already know how bad this looks, okay?” He waves his hand. “Besides, it’s a little difficult to do something like that when your mistress and wife have known each other for almost thirty-five years. We all went to high school together, there was no secrets. I can say one thing though, they’re actually on much better terms than I remember…”

Madara walks over, placing a hand on the back of Hashirama’s neck, squeezing in an obviously painful manner. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few…M’bye.” Madara sits back down, staring at Hashirama.

“Legally separated, huh?”

“Why do you have my wife’s number?”

“Because we like to talk shit about your behind your back.”

Much to my surprise, Hashirama just sighs and accepts that answer. He looks a little embarrassed. “I don’t really want to say this in front of everyone.” Madara raises an eyebrow. “Fine, whatever. What do you expect from me? Mito and I are as on-again-off-again as you and I, Madara. Besides that, I haven’t gotten a phone call from you in like two months, let alone the fact that I hadn’t seen you in six. So I fudged the truth a little bit when I finally got to be with you again. I didn’t want you to be hateful and jealous after I finally get to see you.”

Madara huffs. “Honestly it doesn’t really matter. Your fealty to me sexually really means nothing considering we’ve been having an affair for thirty-four years. It’s not like this is a secret. Mito calls me when you’re being annoying because I’m the only other person who gets it.”

“How often does she call you?”

“At least once a week. She hasn’t called in a while though. Thought she was busy.” Madara shrugs and Hashirama’s mouth is wide open. “Oh don’t be surprised. In case you forgot, Mito and I get along really well.”

“Jeez, they really just kinda break off into their own little world, don’t they?” I mutter.

“It’s because they’re old.” Itachi says with a nod. “They have to hog up all the air in the room with their stories.” He waves his hand dismissively; neither Madara nor Hashirama notice we’re talking directly about them. I shake my head.

“So, what do you know about Hashirama’s wife?” Sasuke asks.

“Um, not a lot. Gaara and Bee might know something but I don’t even think I’ve met her before.” I shrug. “Hashirama kept a lot of stuff separated from us. It makes sense -I actually thought it was because his wife didn’t know that, you know, he was a crime lord-but either way you don’t want your family to get tied up in your business; if you get me.”  

“Actually, I didn’t want her to be in the business because she’s running her own. She would try her best to overhaul any and everything I was doing; she’d purposefully make more work for herself and then blame me for it.” Hashirama laughs good-naturedly. “She’s a bit of a perfectionist. There’s a reason why she’s barely on the Fed radars; she’s really good at keeping herself under wraps.”  

“When you’re Queen of the Whores, you gotta. She’s meticulous because her mother wasn’t, and she got popped. Who and what get moved, the amount of loyalty your pimps have, and how much money is distributed is so important to that kind of operation. One miscalculation -boom- everything is over.” Madara adds with a shrug. “But, being the Queen she is, she’ll have access to a lot of information we don’t.

“Because of all the girls, she has eyes everywhere.”

“Bingo, you’ve won the big prize.” Madara looks at his phone. “And that prize will be here in about fifteen minutes.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Re-cap:   
> Madara texts Mito in attempt to get in contact with her girl so that they can get a lock down on Nagato or Obito's location. In the mean time, Sasuke, Sai and Naruto check out Kaguya's old safehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So why did this take me so long when I seemed to have no problem finishing Promises and updating KOH? Probably because those files were actually on my laptop and not on my tablet in a file I forgot about. I have a deep paranoia about people reading my fanfiction...even though I no longer share a computer with anyone and live with people who know I write fanfiction. Weird, right? Anyway, I thought I had to re-write all of my progress with this chapter, but I found the beginning half of it so I was like thank the lord. And I managed to finish it from there, so sorry about the wait, I hope you enjoy.

**Sasuke’s POV**

We didn’t have to wait long until there was a knock at the door. Uncle was on his feet in an instant, but Hashirama grabbed the back of his shirt, a pleading look on his face. For just a brief moment, Uncle looks purely evil. But the lock clicks open not even a seconds later…

“I let myself in.” A very familiar female voice says, “Madara, it’s rude not to greet your guests at the door.”

“You didn’t even give me time to answer the door.” He mutters under his breath. “We’re in the kitchen.” He calls out. I hear heels against the hard wood in the hallway. I see her hair first, which is a burst of wine red against the darkened shadows of the hallway. She sheds her pea-coat at the entrance to the kitchen, setting it down on the counter. Her dark blue dress is tight against her, showing the very feminine curve of her body. Warmth enters my blood as a little bloom of affection spreads through me. Her face is one I associate with great comfort.

She smiles when she sees Uncle but then frowns when she catches Hashirama’s avoidant head-turn. They go in for a hug but she grabs Uncle’s face, holding it in place as she presses her lips into his.

“Mito!” Hashirama seems horrified as Madara struggled against Mito’s death-like hold, kissing him harshly. Uncle finally managed to pull away only to receive a hard smack on the ass. She smirks at him.

“Woman, don’t do that!”

“Why? You still sore from where Hashirama hit ya, where the lord split ya?” Naruto slaps a hand over his mouth, obviously trying not to laugh at her comment. I turn my head back to look at him and he’s…Surprisingly, not smiling. Maybe it was someone else? I really thought I heard him moving directly behind me. I shook my head, thinking I may have been hearing things.

“Oh that reminds me,” She says, digging around in her purse. “here.” She hands Uncle a neatly wrapped package. “A ‘thanks’ for the show the other night.”

“Show?” Hashirama mutters, dejectedly.

“Oh, how thoughtful.” Madara sits down at the island, neatly peeling back the paper. He smirks. “You know me too well.” I can’t exactly tell by the labeling what it is-because I’m too far away-but I’m pretty sure is cologne? “I can’t believe you remembered.”

“How I forget how good it smelled on you?”

“WHAT DO YOU TWO DO WHEN I’M NOT AROUND?” Both of them froze up, but then turned their attention towards Hashirama. 

Neither of them responded, instead turning back towards each other. “Thank you for coming.” She hums as she walks around Uncle spying Itachi and myself. I’m trying not to smile but her stare has caught mine and she opens her arms.

“Aw, both of my boys are here.” She wraps her arms around Itachi’s shoulders, giving him a small kiss on his temple. Itachi doesn’t try to shrink away or seem grossed out with the affection, instead he smiles patiently and accepts the gesture. I move over to her and she straightens up, opening her arm so I can hug her. “How are my boys? Is Madara treating you well?”

At the accusation, Madara huffs. “They’re fine, Mito. I take good care of my boys.”

She gives him a look as she peels back the fabric of Itachi’s shirt. He winces as she looks over his injury. “Oh, really?”

“I had Sasori come and look it over.”

She turns back towards him, shaking her head. “Well you better keep an eye on it in case it gets worse. I won’t my precious little nephew die because of your absentmindedness.” She has a hand on her hip and with the other she’s pointing. Uncle looks startled but quickly recovers, frowning after his scolding.

“Auntie, I’m fine.” There’s a concerned look on her face as she leans in, gently running her fingers against Itachi’s cheek. “There hasn’t been a point where Madara hasn’t taken care of me.”

“He better. I’ve invested too much time into the two of you for one of you to die before me.” 

“I’m not a negligent guardian!”

She clicks her teeth derisively. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Madara. I’ve known you long enough-“

“You _knew_ about Sasuke?” Hashirama asked quietly. Mito pushes her hair out of her face and her mouth thins into a line.

“Yes,” She replies. “I learned of his existence by accident, I assure you.” She pets my hair and looks at me with great affection. “Madara only called me because he wanted a chicken soup recipe but I figured it would be better with a feminine touch-from someone who can actually cook.” Uncle ‘hms’ at the comment. “He told me not to go up to Itachi’s room but Itachi was sick and I’m a mother-I couldn’t just give him the soup and leave. But, oh, who did I see curled up in his bed next to him but his little darling? I was smitten. And how could I not be? With such big, dark eyes looking up at me, such a soft, expectant look.” A sadness fills her face for a moment and she pulls her hand back. “So, I helped Madara raise our boys when I could. They needed to have some kind of woman in their lives.”

Hashirama is quiet and I can see over Mito’s shoulder that he and Uncle are locked in a very intense stare. Madara just shrugs and looks away. Hashirama looks hurt but says nothing else, turning his eyes down and staring into the marble countertop.

I hear heated whispering coming from behind me and I turn my head slightly to see Naruto and Sai huddled together, speaking very quietly to each other. The blond is hissing on his words and Sai puts a hand on his arm, in attempt to calm him. Anger blossoms in my heart as I see the tenderness of the touch, but Naruto doesn’t accept it. He moves away from the little raven-haired man and crosses his arms over his chest-still completely silent. It’s almost worrying.

“So, Madara, how’s Kat?” She makes a motion with her hand, as if it’s cupping an invisible glass. Uncle elbows Hashirama and makes a nodding motion towards her. He gets up with a sigh and heads into the living room next door, probably to the small bar located there.

He’s frowning at her. “I do not wish to speak of such things. We have much different-pertinent matters to speak-“

Mito waves him off. “How boring. If I wished to be accosted by business matters I would have stayed in the office.” She relaxes slightly when she sits in Hashirama’s seat, right next to Uncle. She’s a lot more bold than I remember, reaching down into Uncle’s pocket and removing his cigarettes. She doesn’t even bat an eye to the cold glare Madara gives her-she even seems somewhat amused by his reaction. She lights one. “You should be a gracious host and at least humor me with small talk.” Hashirama sets a drink down in front of her and Mito looks up at him, making a beckoning motion with her hand. He leans in and she kisses him on the cheek.

“I thought you quit, Mito.” Hashirama adds, snidely.

She smiles in an aggressive way. “You never give up on the things you love.” Uncle snorts at that. Madara looks up at Hashirama and gives a pointed glance that says he’s failed to assuage Mito’s cooperation. They seem to have a completely mental conversation before Hashirama huffs in resignation-Uncle has a snide look on his face.

“Mito, honey-“

“Don’t ‘honey’ me, Hashirama. It doesn’t suit you right now. You’re lucky I can’t legally lay a hand on you, otherwise I’d put you through that wall.” Mito shook her head. She slams down her drink, cracking the glass. “You’ve ruined my good mood.” She pushes hair out of her face, catching Uncle’s gaze. “What do you want from me, Madara?”

Uncle smiles. “Mito, babe, we need to have a couple conversations with your girls.”

She raises her eyebrow, smoke willows from plump, red lips. “Hm, why’s that?” A suspicious look appears on her countenance. “What’s happened?” She gets to her feet, grabbing Uncle by the collar and pulling him forward. “Why is it you two always leave me out of important things until the last minute? This is why men are so weak-“ She starts lifting uncle from the ground and Hashirama seems stunned, completely unable to stop Auntie’s tirade. “The two of you are too self-interested for your own good. All you care about is yourselves-its disgusting.”

“Mito, pleas-“ Her hand shook as her grip strengthened.

“Oh? Don’t like to be choked by anyone but Hashirama? Where’s the fun in that?” She laughs, wildly. I feel an itch in my fingers, reaching down for my knife pouch. My eyes widen fractionally. It’s gone-I lost it in my scuffle with Naruto. Sickness settles into my gut as a re-think my strategy. Mito’s strong-even at her age she has no trouble picking uncle up by just his throat. If I’m quick enough-

“Auntie, please, losing your temper isn’t going to help us.” Itachi says, standing up. He has a knife in his fingers. I feel a flush of pride in my cheeks seeing Itachi look so deadly.

She drops Uncle. “Are you threatening me, Itachi? I’m not above beating your ass, crippled or not.”

“All you have to do is hear us out, then you can appropriately decide the course of action, yes?”

“Will you tell me the truth, love? Unfortunately, my dear husband and his lover have burned a few too many bridges-including ones with me standing on them-for me to fully trust anything they say.”

Itachi looks over to uncle, seeking permission. Madara’s about to open his mouth when Mito shakes her head. “Do not ask Madara for permission when I’m freely giving it to you. If you have any respect for me, Itachi, you will acquiesce with my request.”

Itachi takes a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh. He methodically lays out everything that’s been happening in the past few days, and more importantly, the lines of logic drawn in the sand of the past few hours. The hourglass will soon cover everything up so the more time we waste beating around the bush, the deeper we’ll get buried.

She looks calm and shakes her head. “That explains a lot, actually.” She taps a finger against her lips. “Tobirama’s been looking for you, Madara. I haven’t told him anything about where you are-mostly because you bounce around from place to place, but, he’ll find you eventually.”

“Tobirama? Why would he be looking for Madara?” Uncle looks tense-his shoulders rigid but his face is calm and lacks emotion.

“Dunno. He won’t give me details, but considering Kaguya isn’t dead and is apparently very active, I’ll assume she had a hand in whatever…endeavor he’s thrown himself head-long into.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket, sighing. “Let me get in contact with my higher ups. I’ll see if I can set up a meeting with some of my girls in the area and get a report about what they know. Madara, come with me, yeah?”

“Sure.”

“What about me?” Hashirama seems dejected, looking pouty.

“Don’t try and guilt me, Hashi. You should take your little investigators,” She waves off Naruto and Gaara, not even bothering to look at them. The red head folds his arms but remains silent. I watch as Naruto’s fists clench, along with his jaw. Why is he getting so worked up? She is no threat to him… “and go to the safe house Kaguya was kept.”

“Go to the safe house?”

Mito raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t think of that?”

“That’s probably due to the fact that she hasn’t been there for more than two decades.” Sai interrupts. “It’s a little difficult to believe some kind of clue would be left there.”

Auntie pushes hair out of her face, smirking. “Oh? You don’t think so? To me, it seems a little farfetched that Kaguya just dropped off the map without the Feds knowing. Also,” She turns towards Hashirama. “Maybe you should check out her old stomping grounds-maybe a find a clue there as well.”

“But we burned that to the ground.”

“It’s still worth a shot.” Madara says with a shrug. “If we split up the group as it is, we’ll cover more ground.”

Hashirama stands up. “Alright. Gaara, go wake up Bee. The three of us will go to Kaguya’s old stomping grounds.”

“Itachi, Kisame, you’re coming with me and Mito. Sasuke, go with Naruto and Sai to the safe house.” Madara and Mito grab their respective coats. “Oh and,” He looks over at his shoulder at me, smirking. “Don’t kill anyone you don’t have to, okay?”

\---

I watch as Naruto and Sai branch off for a moment-more like the blond storms off and Sai quickly follows them. It’s like they think I don’t notice the anger in his face, the storms in his seas. I move to the corner of the room, sitting close to where they scurried off too-but keep my distance. Naruto’s a sleuth, through and through. He’ll hear me eventually.

“Naruto-we should just get out of here. It’ll be easy if it’s just Sasuke we need to overpower.” My fists clench and the resurgence of true anger tickles in my belly. Who is he, even, to a man like me? How dare he think I am so easily overwhelmed.

“Sai, shut up. There’s nowhere for me to run anymore. If Kaguya is as serious as everyone says she is, she’ll do me in.” Naruto pauses and I hear him stumble over his fast-coming thoughts. “I don’t have anything left in this world except my current freedom.”

“You’re just acting like this because of that woman.” Sai says in a hushed whisper. “I remember her-I know who she is to you and her presence triggers in you. Don’t let her cold eyes break you down.”

“I feel nothing when I see that woman. She means nothing to me. I’m not a child anymore.” Naruto mutters harshly.

“I know you,” the raven gets closer to Naruto-the creaking of the hard wood beneath his feet signifies his shifting weight. “I know that you’re bitter she didn’t take you.”

“We have a mission to complete. I’ll grab Sasuke and we’ll head out.”

“Does no one realize there will be nothing there?” Sai’s voice gains some volume but he turns his head towards where I’m standing. He doesn’t see me, but lowers his voice anyway. “It’s abandoned. Even if she decided to hide out there, she’ll have definitely left by now.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Naruto says, “besides…”

“What?”

“There are a few things that don’t add up,” He crosses his arms. “And I love a good mystery.”

I step out from behind the wall. Sai tenses up when he hears me approach, even more so when I get within arms’ reach. “We ready?”

Naruto doesn’t act as though he knew I was lurking around, but intuition tells me otherwise. He smiles at me, pressing his thumb against my bottom lip-he shows me bedroom eyes, but I know better. There’s the glint of a threat behind them. “I’m always ready to get a little nookie from Sasuke in the back seat.”

If the fight I would get from him would give me the thrill of our kitchen battle, then I welcomed any scuffle with open arms.   
\--

**Naruto’s PV**

It would really surprise me if we found anything here. If I knew more about Kaguya, it would be easier to judge her movements. Was she a creature of habit? Was she daring? She seemed to be vengeful-but that didn’t mean she was quick to move. A revenge plot that takes this long, is well-thought out. And the means finally became available. She must be just living on hate at this point.

She was probably willing to let this all go, and just die with her regrets.

Or someone else is pulling strings higher than her.

But who’s to say…

I’m willing to bet this is only half-exposed. The information we have is correct and the assumptions we can make from it are supported, but there’s much more to the story-as always. There’s always more. Another side, another page, another line unspoken.  

Which is why we’re here.

I step out of Sai’s car and the three of us stare up at an abandoned three-story house in the middle of the ghetto. The other houses around it are also vacant-odd, but not necessary unheard of. The housing market wasn’t the best right now and considering the size of the houses and the repairs necessary, no one has touched them.

“What a shit-hole.” Sasuke comments, kicking in the rusty lock on the chain link fence.

“It’s not the worst I’ve seen.” Sai replies smoothly. He looks over at me but I’m staring at the windows-looking for a sign of life. Most the of windows are cracked around the edges with shards jutting like unfriendly teeth.

“What do you think?” Sasuke’s eyes catch mine and I can feel the intensity in his stare. His curiosity fills me with a strange sense of warmth-arousal maybe. My breath puffs hotly for a moment and I break our stare before I bed him on the lawn-not like anyone would be able to see us besides Sai, but still, focus was what I needed at this moment-desire would be fulfilled later.

“Personally,” I say with a slight lilt to my voice. “I think this is absolutely pointless.” I walk through the gate, stepping on top of the crumpled fence. “but who knows? I’ve been wrong before.”

The three of us creep up to the door, Sasuke and Sai watching for any sign of neighbors of cops. Nothing seems to stir among the houses, which really makes me think that whoever brought Kaguya here, made a fake neighborhood just to hide her. Extreme, I would think, but also incredibly suspicious. Usually with witness programs, they wouldn’t keep her in the same city, nor would they create a fake environment-they’d give you a fake identity, sure, but nothing this artificial.

The door isn’t locked when I check-which both does and does not surprise me. Did they know we would show up here?

“Naruto…”

I don’t respond. I look over my shoulder slightly and catch Sasuke’s eye again, but this time it doesn’t fill me with heat-it cools me. He’s tense, his posture is poised and he’s ready for a fight. His stamina is impressive. I reach for the gun in the back of my jeans and flick off the safety. Sai brings his own to his face, pointing it into the room before stepping in. Sasuke and I follow in behind him, flanking him. Sasuke is fast with his knives but I still don’t think he could match a bullet.

What a traditionalist.

“Should we split up?” Sai asks as he peeks up a set of stairs. They’ll definitely creak underneath his weight, alarming anyone who would be up there. Sasuke probably is the most stealthy of the three of us and could probably be up those stairs in no-time. I nod to Sasuke and point my head. He nods, slowly, soundlessly heading up to the next floor.

“Stay on this floor.” I say to Sai. “This house is much bigger than I thought. I’m going to check for a basement or a shed out back.”

Sai nods his head. “We should have brought walkies.”

I scoff at the notion. “Oh yeah, to give our positions away? Those are much too loud for my line of work. If anything happens, just start firing. Your gun doesn’t have a silencer.” I head through the living room and back to the kitchen. It smells old in here: but not the livable old, like when you visit someone geriatric and it’s just a little musty. This smells like decay-a sweetening rot not quite like the one you get off a dead body, but just enough of a lingering to trick you into thinking death occurred.

The couches are full of holes from rats and creatures digging into the team, filling spilling out of the cushions, dirtied both by age and unsavory fluids-no doubt. Bugs and other kinds of creep critters own this space now. So maybe my suspicions are completely unfounded. The lock could have easily failed because of the lack of maintenance. I’m trying not to have the floor creak under my feet but at this point, its unavoidable. I point Lucky Nines’ ahead of me, guiding me through the setting light.

I turn suddenly, gun faced back towards the living room. I hear the soft shut of a door in the distance and realize Sai and I are still sharing the same floor. My heart beat slows. I swallow and continue into the kitchen. The sink is leaking-which is walk to immediately to try the tap. It runs. I turn off the water and sit there for a moment, consumed by the smell of mold-the air around me is soggy. I know its my own anxiety creeping in on me, starting to cloud over me and compress my sharpness. I try to ignore it and stare out the small kitchen window. There’s no visible shed in the back and as I turn towards the door that leads out, I notice an inconsistency in the wall paper.

Some of the sections were warped and drooped with age, as to be expected, but there was one section that wasn’t as off-colored or saggy as the rest. My heart picks up again and I swallow, looking for a knife. The place was abandoned, to be sure, but not so much anymore. The water is on, there’s new-ish wall paper…I find a knife in one of the drawers along with some tarnished silverware.

I can’t believe it.

I can’t.

I move a set of china cabinets from the wall and notice a knob jutting out of the paper-the paper around it stretched so thin, it snapped from the age. I dig the knife into the paper, tearing sections away when they cut loose. There’s a crease in this wall, the knife won’t slip in all the way meaning-I pull the paper away with fervency, my palms are sweating, sticking the paper as I rip sections off. My nails are digging into the glue and I toss the knife aside-my heart beats loud in my ears and a single bead of sweat drips down on my neck.

There’s a door here.

I try the knob.

It’s locked-I guess I can’t get lucky twice.

I calm myself, my nerves tingling. I needed to get ahold of myself but just the idea of this all coming together has my body surging. I shudder-it was almost like having an orgasm, the teasing and closeness to climax. This is what I lived for-the pursuit of knowledge and the pay-off. I moan under my breath, taking a calming breath in and slowly releasing it through my nose. I can’t let myself get too caught up and then be taken off-guard.

There’s no way they’d leave the key in the kitchen.

I turn back towards the small window above the kitchen before looking back at the door. If there was anyone inside the this room, they would definitely be alerted if I shot the lock through. I don’t want anyone escaping.

I open the door to the backyard and the crisp evening air hits my nose. I smell the industrial smoke from the far away factories and look up to the sun falling behind the clouds. If someone buried the key back here, I’d never be able to find it in the dying light.

I pause in the doorway-I should get Sai or Sasuke to come with me. My fingers tense on the doorframe.

I step out onto the brown, dying grass. It crunches under my feet as I do a methodical sweep of the yard, looking for any dug up earth. The problem is, it won’t be recent enough for me to detect right away. Or maybe at all. If they key was even buried…

There’s no way they’d just toss it in the yard, right?

I don’t know enough about these people to make such assumptions. I took another deep breath and headed towards the corner of the yard where a large tree sat by the wooden fence. It blocked the yard from the back alley. The tree was old and the bark was starting to blanch with age and most likely death. The leaves on it were scant-dry and crumbling on the branches.

My hopes aren’t exactly bearing fruit either, buddy. I pat the tree’s bark and a section of it falls, revealing the tunnels of termites. Out of habit, I rub my hand on my pants, feeling suddenly dirtied by the thought of bugs crawling on me. I let out a baited breath, oddly disappointed I hadn’t found what I was looking for at the tree. But this wasn’t some point and click adventure game-no one just randomly hides a key to a locked door in tree bark. I hear a soft creak underneath my feet.

However, someone would hide a trapdoor to a locked room underneath some beauty bark.

I drop to my knees faster than I would for any patron. The hinge for it is the only thing sticking out of a pile of moss. I’ve been standing on the door the entire time. I rub the brass in my fingers, finding the strength the pull it up.

The stairs down are dark; the air escaping with as if the ground itself exhaled it. My eyelids flutter as the rawness of my own cowardice hits me in the stomach, icing me over. I could vomit, but I swallow the acrid taste in the back of my throat. I head down the stairs-which have their own duality of fortune. They are concrete so they do not creak, but should someone follow me down and shove me, I will sustain unimaginable injuries. But let them try…

I reach the bottom of the stairs and reach into my pocket for my phone. As if I forgot it, I pull my revolver back out and steady it against my phone. The flashlight app illuminates my surroundings as I head in deeper…It looks like some kind of bunker and my forgotten idea of a panic room returns. Perhaps this was all part of an escape route for Kaguya to get out of her house should she need to. It was definitely designed to be hidden. It didn’t explain the new wallpaper however. That was a recent renovation.

In the slight distance, I hear the soft murmur of a male voice and I feel the sweat bead up on the back of my neck, trickling down my hairline. This was it. I turn off the flashlight and pull my gun up, finger hovering over the trigger. It’ll all end right now, if I got lucky.

At the end of the hallway, I stop, leaning around a wall.

I catch the faint outline of a man in a chair-a wheelchair. He’s sitting in front of a set of screens; one of which was displaying my face in perfect clarity. I watch the feed and notice something, or rather someone, coming up behind me. I turn my head away from the feed and come face to face with a man in an orange mask. I don’t even get a second to react-he slams my face into the side of the concrete wall, before spinning slightly on his heel to deliver a kick to the inside of my knee. I feel my gun slipping through my fingers, knowing I’m dropping it solely to regain my balance.

But I can’t…

“My, my, looks like the little fox found his way down the rabbit hole, looking to gobble up all the tiny bunnies.” He says in a mocking way, even pretending to clean his ‘rabbit ears’ with his ‘paws’. He has my gun in his left hand, clasped in a vice grip. He moves closer to me, pinning me into the wall. His voice changes, the tone and the cadence deepen, “Too bad there’s nothing but monsters down in the dark.”

The edge of his knife digs into the soft skin underneath my chin and what I tell myself is sweat drips from the metal. My mind is fuzzy and my legs shake underneath me. “No,” I can’t feel his breath against my cheek but rather the cold material of his mask-it’s almost worse, knowing someone is close enough to kill you, but not even giving you the last moment of comfort of their own warmth. I shiver, slowly closing my eyes. “No, definitely won’t do it with your own gun. Happiness is a warm gun, right? So that must mean true sadness is a blade-don’t you think? It’s so cold, like the Uchiha, yeah?” I can hear him wet his lips, the puff of his breath against his mask-as if aroused by the prospect of taking my life.

“Obito, enough.” The blade is removed from my neck and he looks over my head.

“But he’s come to kill us, dear friend.” I open my eyes when I feel his body heat pulling away from me.

Nagato waves his hand dismissively. “You disarmed him, now be off with you. I would like to talk to him.”

“You’re not making this very fun for me.” Obito’s voice holds a threat-not at all hidden. I can see the side of his face behind the mask and how his eyes narrow. Nagato turns his head back towards us, and he makes no further movements. I hear a reluctant sigh. “Oh, I guess I’ll go and play with Madara’s little ward instead. I did love the story of Rapunzel growing up…” I watch as he spins a knife in his hands, the blade catching the light and glimmering. “Oh wait, nothing really bad happens to Rapunzel, I mean she has _kids_ , but that’s not too bad. Her prince on the other hand...” He laughs throatily and slides the gun into the back of his pants.

 I have approximately three seconds to make my move. I need to get my gun back, shoot him in the back of the head and before Nagato can pull his own trigger, I’ll shoot him as well. My hand reaches for it instinctively, but Obito turns-I catch the white of his teeth from his wild grin. His blade sinks straight through my hand. How could he sense my moments so precisely? I scream as he pulls the knife forward, shaking it to free the blade from my flesh. The pulling and pinching of my nerves cause me to shudder and fall to my knees, hand still stuck in place. He finally frees the knife with a laugh. “Tut, tut, you heard the man. No toys in this playhouse.”

Nausea hits my stomach and rocks it like a storm, acid churning like a sea. This is not the worst injury I’ve sustained in a fight but something about the uncanny air Obito possesses makes me feel like I’ve been rotting this whole time, that the sweet scent of death…was me.

“Time to play with Rapunzel…Oh RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL.” He stops right in front of the sliver of light from the sunset, letting it slowly darken over him as he bows to the staircase, “LET DOWN YOUR LONG HAIR!” He screams-it bounces and reverberates off the concrete walls and makes his laughter sound like its coming from everywhere all at once, closing me in, squeezing me into this space underground…my tomb…underneath the dead tree cleaning out by termites.

“Don’t mind him.” Nagato says in a gentle voice. He still isn’t looking at me. “if I wasn’t so sure of it myself, I would say that he has multiple personalities. The mask is just how he expresses himself-just try not to see him when it’s off.” I grip the bottom of my shirt, pulling at the fabric roughly to rip it so I can wrap my hand but I don’t have any strength left in my fingers. My breath catches in my throat and for the first time in a long time, I have the urge to cry. The tears well up behind my eyes, building the pressure. But I won’t cry-I won’t beg for my life.

“What do you want from me?” My voice sounds much steadier than I actually feel.

He finally looks at me in the face. “I just want to have a conversation.” He reaches forward and doesn’t bother to hide the first aid kit. “Come sit with me a moment and I’ll wrap your wound.”

“Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

Nagato chuckled gently, patting the empty chair next to him. “Let’s have a talk first, Jinchuuriki.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story was originally published on my FF.net account and will be updated along with the other account.  
> Just a heads-up.  
> Thank you for reading :D


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